Star Wars: The Hyperion Journeys: Into the Shadow and the Void
by Tenkai Nankobo 101
Summary: With his actions against Clyde Rev, Hyperion Algethii has revealed himself to the galaxy once more. But along with his return, Nautolan Jedi Inoy Llimetch has discovered a surviving remnant of the Sith. Are the two interconnected and how can Hyperion's estranged Jedi brother, Dantius, intend to take advantage? The answers to all these questions lie within this brand new story!
1. Prologue & Chapter One

**The**

 **Hyperion**

 **Journeys**

 **Into the Shadow and the Void**

 **By**

 **C** **hristopher Cleveland**

 **Prologue**

Loss... Anguish... Passion... Hatred... these things drove the Dark Side, these things drove the Sith. Morgana, a rogue Sorceress of the Dark Side had known these things since her own training had begun under the Sith Lord Darth Inferis. Called a madman, Inferis had preached that the true Sith should be only one Master and one apprentice but with a host of assassins trained well enough to take the place of the apprentice if they fell. Expendable servants who, when they served their purpose, could be easily disposed of without eliminating the Sith Order. And with each apprentice taking the mantle from the Master, he'd recommended that the top twenty assassins fight each other until only one emerged to become the next apprentice.

Initially, he was written off as a madman, a Bith Force-sensitive who'd delved too far into sadism and cruelty in order to avoid falling into the traps inherent to his species. But when he had actually attempted this in choosing nearly fifty candidates for the apprenticeship, the Council acted. Not wishing to part with the scientific insights he afforded them as a Bith but not wishing his dissent to spread until the Emperor had to act, he was exiled from Dromund Kaas by their decree. Banished to Taris, he was allowed to scoop up as many Force adepts as he could find, provided he didn't harvest from the pools at Korriban, Dathomir, or any other Academy. Originally, Morgana had been one such adept he chose for his own purposes but when she emerged even more powerful than the apprentice he had thought he'd have, he took her in.

Training her in the ways of the Dark Side, her training (and his usefulness) had been complete when her sister had committed suicide. A rape victim of fellow rogue Sith, Hyperion Algethii, the woman had been forced by their parents to carry the child into being. Then, when she had surrendered custody to their mother and father, she'd jumped two thousand feet to her death. Her death marked the end of everything Morgana ever had and as such, provided her the necessary anguish and strife to complete her training with Lord Inferis and kill him. But even as she slew him, she agreed with his principles, believing the Council had exiled him because he was right about the nature of the Dark Side but wanted to silence him politically.

In time, she liquidated nearly all her Master's estate for the necessary credits and seen to it that the assassins he would've kept had killed themselves. Then she started a new life, pursuing Hyperion to the ends of the galaxy in her search for revenge against him. She had thought of giving up, believing she had found an apprentice in Seth al Ugolio despite the near-disaster in choosing Li Whitewolf as her initial choice. But when reports came that he had been killed, she could think of only two or three people who would not only defeat Seth but would also kill him.

Two of them were Jedi who would have tried their best to capture him first, especially Hyperion's brother Dantius. But the brutality of Seth's murder, combined with the reports and the fact that his lightsaber was missing, told her who had killed him. She knew Hyperion still existed, still lived, still roamed the galaxy while she was cluelessly searching for him! But now, at the cost of her apprentice, she knew that the trail was growing hot once again. "He was living on Ando Prime, in a shack he made by hand with a boy that is now gone. But this time, he had the help of the Nautolan who also had to fight off a Jedi who went rogue in trying to find him," said a soldier who'd brought Seth's body to her.

It made sense, seeing as Morgana had followed the reports of a rogue Force adept being chased by the Brothers Bane of Dromund Kaas and Dantius' former Padawan, Polydeuces. The fact that Inoy had associated himself with Hyperion before had also been nothing new, even before the death of Polydeuces and Seth. So she knew now that they were hot on Hyperion's trail, his stagnation on Ando Prime allowing her to catch up and take her revenge. _I am close, Hyperion. So close to avenging my sister and taking back what is mine by right_ Morgana declared silently.

"Keep an eye on him, if there is any way you can keep a homing beacon on him, do it. I don't want him to escape me after all these years," Morgana had ordered. The soldiers went about obeying her demands, making sure that Hyperion wouldn't escape their sight. But of course, Morgana knew that if Hyperion was still as cunning as ever, he would try to defend himself. In so doing, he would prompt her to emerge and destroy him herself and that was exactly what she intended to do.

She already learned what Hyperion possessed in the way of arsenal and Force powers while she was at it. The Sith Witch knew that Hyperion wielded thermal detonators, vibroaxes, vibroknives, nets, shields, and blaster pistols in addition to two lightsabers. One of them, they learned, had belonged to Seth before Hyperion had killed him. The other was the prize he claimed from the last Brother Bane he had defeated, having lost his original red lightsaber in the process of beating him. He looked more like a common mercenary given Force powers, especially with his beard stretching down to his chest at longest strands and shoulders at shortest.

But she knew he was better than that, especially with the funds he already which had allowed him to obtain an even better mechanical arm than the one he lost on Nar Shaddaa. "Herd him into a place where I can destroy him but do not kill him, I want him for myself," she ordered. Her soldiers obeyed, her desire being to kill Hyperion under her blades himself as she had always dreamed of. But, her soldiers had come to a logical epiphany when facing him that she should have expected them to come to.

"His weaponry is making it difficult for us to actually get him. He uses the shield to protect himself from the bulk of our shots and sends thermal detonators against us. While we recover, he shoots at us with the pistols he has or the bladed projectiles," said her Captain. Morgana knew this would be a problem and perhaps, she should have been much easier on her soldiers than she was. Still, she couldn't show weakness now when she was so close and had spent so much time trying to gain her revenge against Hyperion.

"Make sure he can't escape, corner him at all costs until I can get there and destroy him myself. No matter what happens, he cannot be led to believe he has a chance at escape unless he fights me," Morgana told him. He nodded and went to obey, a man of imposing stature that the others obeyed especially as their armor indicated a Mandalorian heritage. However, they were every bit a dishonorable lot, hence why she liked them. And knew they would obey her orders.

 **Chapter One**

Hyperion should've known it wouldn't be long before his old enemies attacked him once he revealed himself. He should've figured out that the ones who would lust for revenge would come looking for him once the news hit the HoloNet. But he was consoled to know that the boy he had called his son for eleven years would be safe from the enemies he had made. Nonetheless, that didn't do him any good now that he recognized the Devils of Mustafar coming after him. This meant that one of his wealthiest enemies, Morgana, had probably sent these warriors to corner him so that she could destroy him herself without a way he could escape.

But little did they realize that Hyperion knew Ando Prime so well that he knew every crevice, every cave, every iceberg that he could use to his advantage. So, in accordance with the Sith teachings he had embraced in his youth, he drew on the fear and suffering he caused for strength. He let it give energy to his tired muscles, let it bring a sharp edge to his dulling mind, and kept the fight on especially when he had made successful kills among their ranks. But he was always careful never to draw out his lightsabers where and when he could avoid it, preferring to use the more effective metal shield he had brought with him and other crude weapons. Thermal detonators had prevented them from encircling and trapping him whenever he was caught in a narrow pass.

Blaster pistols had allowed him to cull the slow and weak from their ranks whenever the detonators had done their number in dazing their minds with the noise and shockwaves. He saved his shurikens as an absolute resort, preferring to use them when he wanted to complete a silent ambush. When he had culled out more than thirty of the Devils, he began using his pistols with more volleys but always attempting to hit their grenades so that he wasted fewer shots. Thanks to his Force training, these shots seldom missed and the Devils were beginning to realize they would lose him if they didn't think of something clever. This was when he decided it was time to truly prove himself their better by leading them in one of the few places where he had one every single battle he'd ever had since arriving to Ando Prime with his brother in tow.

As they neared one of the unending ice sheets that gave distinction to the otherwise flat, bleak landscape, Hyperion found a cave he recognized. He knew the tunnel systems it lead to as well as how he could best use it to his advantage. More, he knew the right place to set his last grenade if he wanted to trap the soldiers for hire in the system with him so he could snuff out each life at his leisure. And unlike them, he also knew how to get out of them and what exits would lead him closer to his home or to the capital city of Ando Prime. Best of all, he knew that once he sealed the entrance, they would be largely reliant on heat imaging to get him which he also knew how to nullify.

Within these tunnels was a moss he could cover his face and head with so that they would be deceived. He could lather his armor and the rest of his suit in it as well, allowing him to appear a phantom to their scopes. Best of all, he knew the moss wouldn't actually bring down his temperature fatally provided that he moved around a lot which he was sure he would be doing. His plan, once he had detonated his last grenade to trap the final twenty enemies who'd followed him, was fairly simple.

He'd lather himself from head to toe in the oozing moss then snuff out every single life in the place with the last of his weapons. Once he knew they wouldn't detect him, by slaughtering the first of the groups they split into, he would then insight some of his more powerful Force abilities such as Force Fear to dull their already troubled senses. "I'm not trapped here with you," he began when he found a well of moss, "You're trapped in here with me!" The fact his statement had echoed across the passages with the slightest help from the Force meant they would hear him and the first projection of Force Fear upon them would take. Using Force Sight, he counted four groups of five that he could very easily slaughter at his leisure when they started to split up.

Among the things he retained from his training with his grandfather was the fact that people who were afraid were much easier to conquer if you kept them divided. Unity gave courage and confidence to those who might otherwise doubt and cower before your might. While Crassus had been one to use such divisions to first rule the empire their family had commanded in the Unknown Regions then insight trouble in Known Space, Hyperion knew it had practical uses. It could aid him in battles just like this even when the enemy he faced had superior artillery as the Devils of Mustafar often did, what with their slugthrower rifles and pistols.

So for that reason, Hyperion had been using a metal shield he knew would do the job of deflection better while slowly cutting down their numbers with the rest of his arsenal. He had also been careful to augment his hearing long enough to find out their comlinks still worked even within the cave. Which was good because he wanted whoever had hired these assassins to end his life to listen. He wanted them to hear the screams of their hired help and realize he may have been older but he was still every bit as tough to kill as he had been in his youth, maybe tougher. So he began his work, not with the closest group as would have been logical but against the ones who were farthest out.

He needed them to fall into the trap of believing they could corner him and that they were on the verge of doing so when he struck. This way, their hopes were not only shattered but what will they had to fight would be eliminated when they learned of their comrades' fates. So he let the two quintets of soldiers who would've been the frontmost runners for the trap pass him. Then, when he knew he would be almost upon the ones that would've cut him off if he had been trapped and charged ahead, he started with the one that would've covered his left flank. He opened up by shooting three more shurikens into the first three then gunning down the other two.

As always, he shot their thermal detonators so that he could make sure they were dead and that their friends would chime in on the comlinks to ask what'd happened. By the time they would guess as much, he'd be almost upon the second group, against whom he would use different weapons. When he found them, he launched one of his infamous nets against the nearest man then landed on top the quad that remained, shooting them dead at point blank range.

He shot each of their heads, two to a pistol so that he could make sure they didn't have a chance against him. At this point, he knew he had only ten more left but he also knew they would be more careful, more weary now. Of course, this was precisely what made such fights exhilarating, so exciting for him in youth though now he knew much better. Killing for the sake of a challenge or excitement of any kind was pointless unless it was backed by a justifiable cause or served a grander purpose than mere pleasure. In this case, his survival depended on his ability to outmaneuver his enemies with the most minimal degree of effort that could be fathomed on his part.

So when he approached the third group, he shot a knife from his boot and watched it land at the brainstem of the nearest man before he acted. He used the nets on two of them then used his last throwing knives at the remainder, preferring to save his best weapons for the last group and with good reason. Their Captain, one of the leaders of the Devils, had been among the original forty and he was leading the last group. In his final moments, Hyperion wanted him to drink in the realization of his doom like the whiskey he'd enjoyed in many a bar.

So, when he found the Captain's group, he had proceeded to use his last two nets on the first pair he saw, wanting the Captain to watch them die in a slow, agonizing death. Hyperion's nets were especially designed to get tighter and tighter without struggle until he remotely deactivated them. The hug of their metallic coils had been known to get so strong they cut through basic durasteel armor and sliced the helpless victim into dozens of pieces. Then he launched his spear from his mechanical arm to hit the Captain square in his midsection while he produced his whip.

Shielding himself from one man's attacks, he wrapped the bladed tendrils of his vibrowhip around his comrade's throat and decapitated him before he could raise his rifle. The poor man who'd witnessed his comrades fall tried to retreat but Hyperion's whip flailed across and its hook ripped out a chunk of his spinal cord before he could get very far, killing him. By this time, the Captain had yanked out the spear and decided to use it against its original. It was admirable that he chose to fight with the weapon that wounded him but a combination of the whip, the shield, and the ax helped Hyperion to quickly deal with him.

"Are you there, Captain Slaveev, are you there?" said a gruffer man that could only have been the leader of the Devils through his comlink. When his compatriot fell, Hyperion put his whip aside, reclaimed and cleaned his spear, then snagged the comlink for a brief transmission. Thinking carefully, he contemplated what he was to say next then pressed the transmission button and spoke.

"To whomever hired you, tell them they'll have to do better than the Devils of Mustafar to kill me. Your boys have gotten sloppy since the attack against Morgana, twelve years ago," he mocked. Then he dropped the comlink so that it landed on the ground, crushing it with his boot the minute it landed. Knowing that there was an opening not far from there, and that it would lead him home, he concluded he had no further business in the caves. By the time the other Devils had figured out which entrance he used in order to leave the system, he'd long lose them.

 **A/N: Well guys, look like I may have the inspiration to continue this series after all. Don't expect more than a trilogy or so however. Just a little forewarning before we continue with this story.**


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Morgana had heard Hyperion's transmission loud and clear even though she wasn't the one holding the comlink that received it. When the static came, she knew that the comlink had been crushed, likely so that Hyperion couldn't be followed via its signal. She also noticed he hadn't picked up any other comlinks, preferring to disappear into terrain he knew too well to having an ear on the inside. "Even after all these years..." Morgana began, trailing off when she accepted that Hyperion was still craftier than she gave him credit for. On the one hand, she was consoled that she hadn't been incompetent in her pursuit of him but on the other?

Well, one could safely agree that she was lucky that the Devils got more interested in someone who killed any of their members by nature. The more there were dead, the more interested they got in the hunt and sometimes that meant a lower price for their services. Generally, there were no more than a hundred and fifty devils at any one time with this current batch having originally numbered a hundred and thirty before Hyperion's kills. The ones who died were of what they deemed moderate skill, making them even more interested. Because if he could dispatch such experienced soldiers with ease, what'd happen if their seniors got involved.

In a way it was a kind of fetish to see how many of their kind could be killed by a quarry with Morgana holding the highest record so far, hence one of the reasons they joined her. But even so, she knew that if Hyperion tested them enough, their loyalties could change unless she found a way to keep things interesting. That or else she found a way to have them utterly wiped away and replaced with a more complacent troupe of mercenaries. She wasn't unaccustomed to betrayal and strife as these were traits the Dark Side encouraged, even commended. What she didn't care for was the possibility of having to worry about what happened when Hyperion beat her record for most soldiers killed.

"My lady," said a mercenary officer. When she nodded, he spoke, "our spies in the Inner Rim have found reason to believe the Sith still live. They're in hiding from the Jedi and their grand Republic on Balmorra and Dathomir," the officer told her. At first, Morgana thought to ask what this had to do with her vengeance against Hyperion then an idea occurred to her. Apart from running dangerously low on credits (for her standards, as she was still a multi-millionaire), the Sith would also be looking for any recruits who showed promise.

And, since Morgana could still wield a lightsaber with the proficiency of her prime, she could also display her growing Force talents before people who would accept her. More, she had two routes that she could go, either of which could involve the mercenaries if she had wished. She could either usurp the Sith Emperor's throne and then use the superior resources of the Empire to draw out Hyperion or she could turn them into the Republic for the biggest payout of her life and then continue her vengeance with the new funds. More, the Devils of Mustafar would not only have a chance to become a more permanent part of her regimen but they could also have a chance to test themselves against someone of true power like the current emperor. Hell, she could even use the Emperor to dispose of them all then kill him herself and take the throne, if she needed to.

 _If the Force has willed me to join the ranks of the Sith then that is where I shall go. I can return to Hyperion when I have the command of the Dark Side's acolytes instead of these bumbling mercenaries!_ she thought to herself silently. "Dathomir is more likely to contain the greater power but the Jedi have already discovered their foundries there. Let's head to Balmorra and see if we can enlist in the Sith cause," she said aloud.

"Enlist, I thought you didn't serve the Sith!" said the Captain.

"Nor do I but the Sith allow people who have a vested interest in themselves to rise to the top of the good chain with relative rapidity. And since I don't need to go to their only Academy for training, they'll probably start me off as a Lord until I prove greater worth. Not to worry, soon they will be serving us rather than us serving them anytime soon. On what basis was the transmission sent?" Morgana said.

"Supplies, my lady. Why?" said the Captain.

"Let's round up all the supplies they need, and what we can afford to buy, then head to Balmorra with the supplies as a peace offering. A gift in return for letting us join as an ally of the Sith with myself in a high enough position of prestige to have influence in the Sith. Let's make a stop at Denon and fetch the supplies then head to Balmorra imminently. Or do you still love the mercenary life?" Morgana ordered.

"As you command my lady. But, forgive me for continuing to question you but won't Hyperion suspect treachery from you and follow? After that last attack, he isn't apt to simply standby and do nothing," said the captain.

"Why do you think we're undergoing this expedition? I'm hoping it draws him out soldier," she told him. He nodded his acceptance if he didn't agree with the plan necessarily. Morgana didn't have either the time or patience to make him understand and besides, it would've taken precious power she didn't feel like wasting. Why tell him she was trying to make Hyperion come to her rather than chase him when she could simply show him that was what they were doing? He would come around inevitably, they all would, especially once they knew Hyperion would certainly be coming for them and Morgana had better challenges to keep them occupied in the meantime.

She was somewhat disappointed that the Sith hadn't been able to maintain their stronghold on Korriban but simultaneously, she wasn't surprised. Korriban and Ziost were likely to have been the first worlds the Jedi would've made sure were taken from the Sith when the Empire lost its advantage. Worlds like Dathomir, Honoghr, Umbara, and worlds like that were more repositories for pupils less fit to be Sith than those who came to Korriban and Ziost. The same was true of Yavin 4, Nathema, and other ancient Sith worlds where the Dark Side ran strongly. With the capital of the Empire gone, it was the very insignificance of planets like Dathomir and Balmorra, compared to Korriban and Ziost, that made them such good refuges. Secrets that she could always reveal to the Jedi if she had to, especially if her life depended on it.


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

When Hyperion replenished his arsenal, he fully expected to find dozens of Mustafar Devils waiting for him. Soon as he found none, he knew there was more to this than Morgana might have wanted him to believe. "What treachery is this?" Hyperion asked, thinking aloud more than anything. With thermal detonators, a knife, two blaster rifles, a spear, nets, an ax, his lightsabers, wrist blades, and shurikens packed up in conjunction to his shield, he began his inquiry. Picking up the trail of the Devils of Mustafar was easy enough since their homeworld's volcanic environment made them expert at hiding in the dark but not very gifted at hiding in daylight snow.

In fact, Hyperion was beginning to think that the only reason they were so widely feared was because they used weapons capable of killing full-trained Jedi in the dark of night. That way, by morning, any traces of them that they might have left behind would be faded by the daylight and the factors it brought with it. Fighting in the actual daylight itself proved to be their disadvantage as well as what happened when someone who saw their weapons brought the shields that could deflect them better than lightsabers ever could. But when he saw absolutely no trace of their ships anywhere near the mountains, he was baffled by the sight. "There's no way Morgana simply gave up: if she found me here, she will hound me to the ends of the cosmos in trying to kill me," Hyperion thought aloud.

Something was wrong about this whole thing and he didn't even have the slightest clue how he would begin to find out. That was when he received a transmission at a frequency he'd never seen before in his life, one that was Republic in origin but restricted. Curious, he answered it in the off chance that maybe it was Morgana telling him what it was she decided to do. His disappointment would've been visible to anyone witnessing when it wasn't her voice that spoke.

"Hyperion Algethii, you have been selected for an off-the-books mission by the Jedi Order. Meet our ambassador on Nelvaan in three weeks' time if you're interested in learning more about the precise nature of the mission. Failure to attend will be taken as a sign of disinterest and content with a life on the run," said the man on the other side. Or at least, what sounded like a man after the modulation was accounted for but could very easily have been a woman's voice. Still, the last time he had heard a classified Republic frequency, it'd been the Jedi Council trying to recruit him for a classified mercenary mission.

It was also the best way to find out if Morgana had simply asked a contact in Republic military to send the message as a trap as well. So, with no alternative, he gathered his arsenal, packed a few necessary provisions, and booked himself a trip to Nelvaan (or as close as the pilot could go), leaving Ando for what he hoped would be the last time. Apart from having little reason left, he admittedly realized he didn't like to stay put in one place too long, understanding that now to be the reason for his disgruntlement about staying here, six years ago. He'd stayed, he understood, only because Menelaus knew nothing else and was perfectly content to have waited until he was much older to begin traveling. Now that his adopted Zabrak son was gone, Hyperion had no true reason to stay put anymore.

And as he traveled to Nelvaan, his thoughts sometimes went back to his son, went back to leaving him in the protection of the Jedi on Coruscant. Inoy was a Nautolan man of his word, Hyperion knew that even when they met during Inoy's tenure as a Jedi Padawan. He knew that if Inoy promised to protect Menelaus from Hyperion's enemies, he'd do so with his life. Hell, Inoy had technically committed treason in letting Hyperion go so that Menelaus could have a new home.

But something about the arrangement, something Hyperion couldn't quite explain, unsettled him. He had been able to move on well enough to continue to distract his enemies with himself as bait after he left his son in Inoy's care. But thinking about the fun times he had raising his son, the laughter and smiles the kid had shown during his infancy and toddler years... struck home with the former Sith. Parting with him, as Hyperion found out the closer he got to Nelvaan, had felt as painful in his heart as tearing a mechanical arm had been when he had needed to do so on Nar Shaddaa, following his duel with Seth and Lord Ishido. Growling under his breath at this epiphany, he chided himself for the sins of his youth as he knew they had been the reason this was even happening to him: he had nobody to blame for these feelings but himself.

 _Missing your son, aren't you? You weren't nearly this remorseful when you led me to your parents_ said a familiar voice. Then, after a moment, it continued by saying, _You have grown weak in your exile, grandson_ _._ Hyperion clutched his head with his artificial limb, trying to rub out the voice as if it were a pain in his head.

"Get out of my head, grandfather. I am not yours to command anymore," Hyperion snarled.

 _Don't you remember, Hyperion? Your cousin destroyed me when I failed to transfer my consciousness into his body. In words you'd said while you were being chased by Morgana's mercenaries, I am not real_ taunted the specter. Hyperion knew the specter was right, knew that he has been right to say his grandfather had been destroyed when his cousin overcame him in a battle of wills.

In a last ditch effort to avert the prophecy of his fate, Lord Crassus had transferred his consciousness into his Hyperion's cousin, hoping to destroy him by taking over his body then conquering the galaxy. But when Christopher Algethii's will proved stronger than Crassus' the more ancient Sith Lord was no more. Hyperion could think of only one way, however, that Crassus might have prepared for his destruction and begin his return even from the oblivion usually promised to those who failed the process of essence transfer. If Crassus had somehow planted seedlings of his power within both Hyperion and Dantius, he could pick and choose which one he wanted to use to raise himself from the dead. It was similar to how Emperor Vitiate was alleged to have possessed a wide number of beings in his thirteen-hundred years of life before the Outlander (also the Hero of Tython) had destroyed him as Valkorion.

If Crassus was doing that, then Hyperion was determined to stop him from doing so until he knew he didn't need to worry anymore. At least until he knew his son was going to be safe no matter what happened to him, Hyperion would hold out and make sure Crassus didn't win. _Do you wonder about this mission, why there might be a restricted code from a Republic channel? Why after all these years, the Republic is contacting you on a channel only top ranking military officials and the Jedi tend to use?_ Crassus taunted.

"There are a couple of reasons. One of them being that Morgana had a contact in the military with access to the frequency. In return for the bounty on my head, should they capture me, she'll finally have her revenge against me. Could also be a trap the Jedi are setting up to ensnare us," Hyperion said. Crassus chuckled, a sound that Hyperion hadn't heard since his childhood when Crassus would usually do that in prelude to torturing him for failure in training.

Oh ye of little faith in the galaxy and its inhabitants, Hyperion Corialanus Algethii, son of Caius Marcius Algethii II Crassus taunted. The last time that Hyperion had heard Crassus refer to him that way it had been because Hyperion had failed a critical mission. At that point, Crassus had been so angry that he tortured his grandson for nearly half a standard year before he calmed. Hearing it again, as Crassus probably intended in that moment, reminded Hyperion of that bygone agony and agitated him further.

"Never call me that again, grandfather! Or I will destroy you before you have a chance to take me over," Hyperion promised.

 _Such a big threat from someone who felt small without the Dark Side in his youth. Why do you think I am resurfacing in your life?_ Crassus asked.

"Because you would have me become the monster I once was so that I may better serve your purposes," Hyperion snarled.

 _Once again, you are of little faith in the will of the Force, Hyperion. In return for sparing me, I offer you the power to reshape your destiny however you wish_ Crassus thought.

"If you need me to spare you, how powerful can you truly make me?" Hyperion asked.

 _It's up to you to find out, my boy. We should be nearing Nelvaan in the next little while, I think you'll like it: it's less frigid than Ando but the natives have had more to eat_ Crassus told him.

"You speak as if you've been there," Hyperion inquired subtly.

 _Indeed I have, it was one of the first worlds I visited when I came into Known Space after the destruction of the Algethiius Empire in the Unknown Regions. I know how to speak the native tongue, thanks to my squalor there and can help you in that regard if you let me_ Crassus offered.

"I will let you aid me, provided you do me one favor," Hyperion finally decided, pondering the benefits of having this other personality within him. When the specter of his grandfather told him to speak, he did just that. "Leave me the kriffing hell alone whenever I ask for it, like now," Hyperion said.

 _Done, my boy_ Crassus said, growing silent with one last chuckle that sent ripples through Hyperion's mind. Then he was left behind just in time to hear the PA state that he had arrived.


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

Hyperion arrived to Nelvaan and activated his comm so that he could access the coordinates of the meeting spot. Thankfully, he wasn't that far off from them as well as from a settlement where he could acquire supplies during any wait he might have before returning to the rest of the galaxy. The specter of Hyperion's grandfather had thankfully chosen to remain silent, perhaps honoring a bargain for the first time in his nearly two centuries of life. Hyperion was fully prepared for this cold, having learned a trick or two about ice planets from his tenure on Ando. Now, all there was to do was wait for whoever had commed him on that frequency he'd detected though he didn't hold much hope that it was anything other than an agent of Morgana's.

It seemed like the kind of thing she would do and though she'd been initially slow to do so, he knew enough about her to know that she would wise up when she failed again and again. Finding the coordinates, he realized, had been the easy part: watching the ship that transported him ascend and leave him behind was turning out to be the most surprising. But the most difficult part was keeping still, not knowing what predators were native to this land and what threats he could expect from the native Nelvaanians. But fortunately, he didn't have long to wait before he was commed again by the same frequency.

"Have you arrived?" asked the voice on the other side.

"See for yourself if you can," replied Hyperion. As soon as he terminated the transmission, he saw something that looked like a bird at first then became a ship as it edged its way closer. From what he could make of it, it couldn't have fit more than half a dozen personnel and the presence of a powerful Jedi on board was unmistakable. But there was also something familiar about this Jedi presence, a call from his past that he had all but forgotten in his exile on Ando. He wondered if the vision he'd had at on his homeworld was going to come to pass now, a plausibility at this point as much as not.

Sure enough, the transport shot at him as he had seen in the vision and he dodged it in accordance with the will of the Force described in the vision. When the ship landed, he readied his lightsabers, figuring they were the only weapons that would prove a match for whoever emerged from the transport. As his visions showed, a single figure emerged from the transport, hidden within the traditional brown cloak of the Jedi Order even if it was the only thing traditional about his attire. Beneath was a suit of armor that, for reasons he couldn't understand, reminded him of the armor Crassus used to wear when he ruled over Algethiius. As he ignited his purple and yellow blades, he cried out the most logical question that he could ask in this situation.

"Who are you!?" he shouted, his lightsabers at the ready should there be an attack. Instead, the man before him merely unclipped a lightsaber of his own and ignited a lime-green blade. Just as his visions predicted, he recognized the man before him as soon as the blade was ignited. The man's beard was somewhat greyed like his hair but otherwise it was black as the darkest night, his eyes as green as the blade, and his figure slightly taller than Hyperion's. "Didn't figure you for the type to spring traps, brother," Hyperion said, keeping his lightsabers ready in case there was going to be a fight.

Dantius chuckled at the remark and deactivated his own blade, clipping it to his belt as he began to speak. "I didn't necessarily set a trap but I needed to find out if your reflexes were dulled by the years in exile. Imagine how happy I must be that I see you haven't lost your knack for sensing danger," Dantius retorted. Hyperion deactivated his own blades and clipped them back to his belt, figuring he could reach the pistols long before Dantius could mount any kind of parry effort against him. Plus, they were slugthrowers so the court would be in Hyperion's favor as far as advantageous duel weapons were concerned.

"To what end? You usually took less initiative to kill me than I did you in our youth. Have you suddenly developed an appetite for my blood?" Hyperion snarled under his breath. Crassus' specter praised him telepathically for his words but Hyperion kept any comment he had on the subject of praise from his grandfather to himself. Dantius' answer, however, was a little more baffling than he had originally anticipated it being when he came here.

"The Republic won't approve an expedition to conquer the Sith remnants unless they can assure its citizens of a swift victory and quick destruction. On the Council Jedi Knight Inoy Llimetch vouched for having you act as a double-agent for us and frankly, I agree," Dantius explained.

"You lost me," Hyperion admitted. Actually, he hadn't but there was no need for Dantius to know that. He was simply hoping he could get more elaboration about the kind of game Dantius wanted to play with the last champions of the Dark Side.

"If a Jedi were to come and say they defected, they'd be regarded with more suspicion and would have to start at the bottom to prove themselves. By the time we got any valuable information, such personnel would be corrupted to the Dark Side and we would have to make an extraction mission with intent to purify the individual we sent. On the other hand, if we send someone already trained in the Dark Side and acquainted with the subtleties of Sith life, their integration into the chain of command is more feasible. Of course, for the sake of complete legality, the Jedi aren't allowed to oversee this mission: off the books, it's a mission of the Republic military though you will be in contact with me if you agree to the mission," Dantius explained.

 _Find out what you gain out of this if you agree to the mission. I can't imagine the rewards will be meager_ Crassus told his grandson.

 _The hell do you think I intend to ask him next?_ Hyperion retorted telepathically.

"Say I accept this mission, and say further that I survive it. What do I get out of it?" he asked aloud.

"To start with, Republic Law Enforcement has agreed to completely expunge any and all crimes committed within Republic space from your record. Considering they're the most numerous on your rap sheet out of any other type of crime, I suggest you accept that. By principle of there being no Empire when we're done, your crimes committed with the Sith will also be expunged: you're looking at a clean slate aside from what you did in neutral space. Furthermore, the Republic military has also agreed to mount a full-scale expedition to track down and cut down your most powerful enemies to size for you via a paramilitary force they will pay for at no cost to you. If need be, you will even be given a new identity and perhaps a chance to walk among the Jedi Order alongside me and have a chance to see your son again," Dantius answered.

"The Republic must truly want to see the Sith purged from this galaxy if they want to make me such an offer. What do you personally get out of it?" Hyperion inquired. This was the last important question and one that he was surprised to find Dantius could waste no more time on than the previous answers he gave.

"To start with, the Republic military will give me a payout I can either take or donate to reconstruction efforts for the Jedi Order. I already have asked that the funds of the mission, should it succeed, be donated to repairing the ancient temples of the Order be it on Dantooine or Coruscant. And it's a big enough payout to afford complete reconstruction efforts on both temples while I rely on the credits I gained from my foster family to survive my missions. Last but not least, I get to see what good Inoy saw in you when he technically committed treason in letting you go at Clyde Rev's final floating fortress," Dantius replied. Hyperion chuckled, pleased to find that his brother could still be superficial as ever though he didn't voice as much.

 _I wouldn't trust this offer, if I were you. Even if he honors his end of the bargain, I don't think we won't make an effort to see you destroyed beforehand_ Crassus warned.

 _How? If I'm parked on Dathomir or even Balmorra, there's no way Dantius could put the Sith on high alert to me without compromising the mission or himself to the Republic. And he loves the Republic and Jedi too much to do that, no he'll honor the offer without trying to see to it that he doesn't first. More important, the mission is off the books which means that the Jedi might not have approved Dantius to commit to it: if he's done it whilst the Council was deliberating what to do, he's taking a big risk in making the offer. But he knows that if the mission is a routing success, the Republic and the Jedi will have no choice but to recognize him as the man who ended the wars of the Light and Dark Sides of the Force forever. He has too much to gain from offering me this mission to risk losing everything, even with the deductions the Republic will make to reward me_ Hyperion told his grandfather's ethereal form.

"Dantius, I will accept the mission with all the entailed rewards of success provided you allow me to retire to a life of peace and comfort on a Republic world of my choice when we're done. Or is that already guaranteed as part of the package?" Hyperion told his brother aloud.

"We had a few ideas of worlds you could choose from for your retirement and any effort to recover your son can be made if you wish it so. You may be asked to turn your lightsabers over to the Jedi Order if you intend to do that, just so that you don't have them to your advantage should you decide to commit more crimes afterward. And I wouldn't recommend that path if I were you," Dantius told him.

"Then we have a bargain, you got a seat on your ship?" Hyperion asked. Dantius nodded.


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

"The mission details are simple," Dantius began as they closed in on Sith Space, "you are to report as often as possible on any plans you discover for retaliation. You are also allowed to do whatever becomes necessary to become an influential part of the Imperial food chain provided you don't lose yourself to the deceit and turn on the Republic. When you have enough information about whether or not the Sith can be quickly vanquished, if attacked, send the data to me via a secure channel that the Sith don't operate then await instructions."

 _Instructions from a Jedi. Something tells me there's going to be a sentimental order to spare those who surrender first then kill everybody else_ Crassus said in Hyperion's head.

 _That remains to be seen, grandfather. Meantime remember what I said about shutting up?_ Hyperion reminded him. The older Sith specter growled and mumbled something incoherent but otherwise obeyed his grandson. He turned to Dantius and asked if there were any contacts he could trust on Balmorra, should the mission go south.

"We've recruited some help among refugees of Hutt Space who've agreed to accept perilous missions for the Republic in return for citizenship. It's somewhat unethical but it's a deal the Republic worked without the explicit consent of the Jedi, feeling that since many such refugees have criminal records coming in that it would be a good way to atone for their crimes. Plus, there are some smugglers who are highly trained and will already be delivering supplies to the Sith anyway. We'll park you with one of them at Denon and let you work as a labor hand when you arrive, that way your discovery doesn't stink of Jedi influence to the Sith. Be sure to let your power be plain for a Sith Master to see so that you can get recruited quickly and hopefully get a good rank to start with," Dantius suggested.

"And if they ask about the rest of my arsenal like my vibroblades and pistols?" asked Hyperion.

"Just tell them the truth, be it that you reserved your lightsabers for those worth the trouble of a duel or that you used them to soften up opponents to take them down. Bottom line is, your best chance may be to give them reason to believe they can manipulate you into their service when you're actually the one pulling the strings instead," Dantius answered.

"You sound more Sith than Jedi with those words," Hyperion noted.

"I just know the tactics of the Sith well enough to know that the Council isn't going to come up with effective counters anytime soon. Wise though they are, much of what they tell their subordinates to do in the face of a Sith threat isn't practical when you spend a lot of time getting shot at," Dantius replied nonchalantly. Hyperion was rather impressed by how much his brother had changed since joining the war effort, so many years before as a recently-declared Jedi Knight by order of the Council. Now, as a grizzled Jedi Master, Dantius thought more similarly to his mentor Master Colunga might have as if the experience of being a temporary traitor to the Republic actually helped Dantius' understanding of the Force instead of hinder it.

"What happened to you when you joined Master Colunga and his traitors?" Hyperion inquired, somewhat rhetorically. Dantius shrugged indifferently and typed in a comm frequency Hyperion didn't recognize at first. He wagered it was the smuggler he was going to be in contact with and when he saw a Rodian with a ship parked, loading up crates of supplies, his suspicions were confirmed. Aside from the Rodian, there was also a Bothan, Chagrian, a Twi'lek, a Bith musician, and a Wookiee. He had a feeling he was get along with the more meek members of the crew but the bigger ones might try their luck with him even if they were paid otherwise.

"This the one you want sent to Balmorra?" the Rodian asked in very heavily accented Basic speech. Dantius nodded and dropped a credit chip, valued at three hundred thousand into his hands.

"As we agreed. Three hundred thousand as a down payment for safe passage to Balmorra. You'll receive the rest when you confirm that he has arrived and been picked up by the Sith," Dantius told him. The Rodian then led Hyperion to the ship with a gesture of his head but before Hyperion boarded, his brother called out to him. "May the Force be with you, in case we don't see each other again," Dantius told him.

Hyperion silently took the compliment in stride with a nod then helped load some of the last supplies on board, proving himself as strong as the Wookiee when he load a crate himself. "You strong for human," noted the Rodian, "no Human ever compete with my Wookiee friend before!"

"I'm not looking to compete, I'm only looking to secure passage from my end. Just because my brother paid for the trip doesn't mean your crew likes me," Hyperion told him. The Rodian barked out a laugh at the remark, fully expecting this man to be unfamiliar with how smuggler crews worked sometimes.

"True but you got my respect. That good enough for trip, because I'm Captain. Go, get seat before we take off, you stay then we jump. You get up after we make jump if you want but not before," said the Rodian. Hyperion nodded and took a passenger seat as he watched the rest of the crew fall into place. The Rodian Captain and the Bothan took the main controls, the Twi'lek and Wookiee took over the turrets on top of and beneath the ship. The Bith made sure all systems were a go and handled navigation, in case the ship had to veer off course for any reason at all.

Hyperion occupied one of only eight passenger seats in the frigate and patiently waited for the jump to commence. But thanks to the intruder in his mind, he wasn't able to wait entirely in silence. _You should have used your gift of comprehending languages to speak to the Rodian in his native tongue. Basic seems to put a strain on him_ Crassus taunted.

 _Funny, I always thought Basic put a strain on you. You always struggled to sound intelligent when I was a kid like you struggle to sound wise now_ Hyperion retorted. Crassus snarled then warned him that the mission was going to be dangerous, that Hyperion would likely be proven insipid for accepting. _I was only stupid whenever I did anything you asked of me, grandfather. This mission will prove one of the smartest choices I ever made: all I have to do is live to reap the benefits_ Hyperion replied back.

What he said was true from the point of view that Hyperion had a perfectly wonderful chance to atone for the destruction he'd wrought by helping defeat the ultimate destroyers. The Sith Lords who presided on the Dark Council had each committed more sins against the Force's creations in one standard week than he had an entire year to reach where they were. Combined with each presumably living several decades to a century and one had the worst masters of destruction, vulgarity, and debasement that the Force created for the sake of balance. While Hyperion didn't possess anymore love for the Jedi, he agreed with his brother: the galaxy was a better place with the Republic and the Jedi Order in place than the Sith and their Empire. As such, it brought him significantly greater pleasure to bring the punishment the Sith so deserved for their decadence and hedonism.

 _Careful thinking the Sith are hedonistic and decadent boy, you were born of them after all_ Crassus warned.

"Doesn't mean I have to like them, anymore than I like or love my family," Hyperion told him in a whisper.

 _You mean to say you don't love me?_ Crassus retorted with a snide childishness in his grizzled, deep voice.

"My grandfather is an intergalactic butcher who encouraged me to help him kill my parents and pursue my brother across the stars, committing more crimes than Naga Sadow. What the hell do you think?" Hyperion replied. Crassus chuckled, the words revealing a feeling of being stung that Hyperion had never sensed in his grandfather before. And he knew the man deserved it too, having earned his place in the galaxy as exactly what Hyperion had called him.

 _I would've let the denizens of the Hapes Cluster live if they had but surrendered to me. War is a debauchery of nature's creations regardless of who fights within them. The losers are never those who are routed by their opponents but the politicians who failed to see reason and let diplomacy resume until their constituents turned against them_ Crassus explained to him.

"Justify that to the Republic. I'm sure they'd love to hear a disembodied spirit talk about how they're the losers for defending the galaxy from anarchy and darkness," Hyperion encountered.

 _Such bold words from a man who brought forth those very things to satisfy his own youthful impulses. Do not be so self-righteous when you meet the Sith, Hyperion Algethii. It will not save you from the enemies you will inevitably forge for us against the more ambitious contemporaries you'll meet_ Crassus warned.

"Ambition is nothing without the backbone to make it happen and the patience to sit back so that the results form by themselves. The Sith will never defeat the Jedi as long as they fail to understand that a combination of ambition, cunning, and patience were not only the traits that ensured their survival but will carry them forth to victory. Now leave me alone," Hyperion snapped angrily. The specter, feeling there was no point in keeping up the talk, complied.


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

The Balmorra run was uneventful, especially once Hyperion decided to meditate in preparative contemplation. He figured he would have more than his fill of training once he arrived and was picked up by the Sith what with them likely lacking good fighters who were not already a Lord or on the Council. When he did arrive, he noticed that the Academy wasn't as grand in nature and was more reminiscent of one of the weapons factories that Balmorra was famed for. Last he had heard, the Zakuul Eternal Flagship had knocked out the planetary defenses without much of a fight and the twin princes of the Empire planted a force to hold the planet. For the Sith to have taken it back was a sign that they had adapted to survive until Zakuul fell, even as the Republic won the arms race that followed Zakuul's collapse.

Hyperion decided to start with helping the first load, that of weapons and ammunition. Again, he proved his worth when he used the Force to stop a crate from falling over and shove another one over the edge of the launch pad before it could explode, seeing a defected canister. It was when he performed this second act that he caught the eye of a Sith Lord who wandered to him. By the look of him, Hyperion would say he was an Pureblood but decayed from age and continuous exposure to the currents of the Dark Side. "Greetings Human, I am Darth Vowrawn of the Dark Council.

"I couldn't help but noticed that you used Force Sight to detect a canister's defection before it could explode and kill half of our... current audience. Doubtless, you were given a sense of forewarning by the Force beforehand?" the Pureblood inquired.

"What of it?" Hyperion said, pretending simplicity for the sake of his cover story.

"I wish to know how much training you have had in using the Force. You can be honest with me, in fact I insist on it: playing a fool will do you no good," Vowrawn continued. Crassus told Hyperion that he knew of this Pureblood and knew that he was a slippery snake who'd helped the second Emperor's Wrath ascend to power after the betrayal of Lord Scourge.

"I know how to use the Force Rage ability in battle along with the abilities you've seen. In my youth, I preferred to use a combination of Juyo, Shien, and Shii-Cho though I now prefer to incorporate some Djem So and Makashi in substitution for the Shii-Cho. However, I can claim expertise in all seven of the forms and mastery of three, excluding Jar'Kai and saberstaff which seem to be my specialty of late. Though I can summon Force Lightning and perform Force Choke, I prefer restricting my Force usage to leveling my playing field instead of using those more powerful abilities which require concentration," Hyperion explained.

"So you are trained as a Sith Warrior with some Inquisitorial ability and knowledge. Most impressive and, if I may, how are your unarmed combat skills?" Vowrawn asked.

"I nearly killed a member of Havoc Squad with Echani martial arts, a couple months ago," Hyperion bluntly replied. Vowrawn laughed and Hyperion had to admit it was somewhat hard not to join in Vowrawn's revelry of what he was hearing. When the Dark Council member had the ability to speak again, he made the offer that Hyperion and Crassus both knew was coming when they set foot on this world.

"How would you like to join the ranks of the Sith? We would have to start you as an Academy Instructor of course but with how you do your job, you can quickly rise through the ranks. This empire has need of warriors like you and you will be paid handsomely for your troubles," Vowrawn explained. Hyperion appeared to think about it for a little bit though he would've had to say yes inevitably. Part of his cover would be the element of reluctance and of appearing hesitant to join the Sith initiative.

"What's in it for me if I say yes? Surely, with Balmorra one of only two significant worlds the Sith possess, you can understand my grievances with believing you. Nothing personal, it is simply business, you understand," Hyperion said. Crassus chided him for attempting to speak like Vowrawn did but Hyperion paid it no mind. Vowrawn nodded and gestured for Hyperion to follow him as they talked, crossing his hands behind his back once he was assured the Human was following him.

"These shipments you helped bring in are part of a bigger plan to first reclaim the worlds of significance to the Sith such as Korriban, Ziost, and Honoghr to name three. Once we have assured the conquest of those worlds and a renewed Mandalorian alliance, we will be on the warpath to reclaiming what we lost. And since you will be training the new armada of Warriors and Inquisitors, we will owe it to your success with your best and brightest students taking to the fields. When your pupils have led the way to victory, you will be remembered with a place of power and influence in the Sith as well as the credits to enjoy yourself. Or would you rather drift from world to world in a smuggling outfit, forever fighting beneath your potential?" Vowrawn explained.

 _This is a cunning snake but fortunately, he is not omniscient. He has earned his place on the Council and unlike some Sith lords of Human origin, he has only grown more powerful with age instead of weaker. Not uncommon with Pureblood but in him, it appears especially so_ Crassus told Hyperion. Hyperion snarled mentally, a final warning for Crassus to let him handle the situation they were in.

"Won't the rest of the Council ask that I prove myself worthy of the position? Perhaps pit me against your current instructors as a rite of passage?" Hyperion inquired.

"How quickly you catch onto the ways of the Sith. Yes, you will be asked to prove yourself against a worthy opponent but I don't find you having a problem with that if you haven't been lying to me about your credentials," Vowrawn said.

"You approached me after I saved the life of hapless smugglers, saying you sensed a gift in me, and now you come to believe I might be lying about its extent? Are you interested in recruiting me or are you interested in treating me the same way the Jedi would?" Hyperion snapped. Crassus might have warned him against such a flippant tone but Hyperion ignored him, preparing to repel an attack in case Vowrawn found those words distasteful. Instead, the old Pureblood looked at the younger human and smirked, an expression of admiration Hyperion hadn't expected from a Sith lord.

"Had you been a slave, I would probably have asked to meet your master for a talk. If you had been a subordinate Lord, I might have ordered for your some of your estate to be stripped from you. But since I've met the second Emperor's Wrath and helped him eliminate Lord Baras, I've... become more appreciative of such flippant tones as yours. When circumstances permit, of course: you are recruited into the fold, I will petition that you be tested for your place in the chain of command where the Sith are concerned," Vowrawn said.

"And the weapons I possess besides my lightsaber?" Hyperion continued.

"Keep them, of course. They will help you keep your edge against more potent and tactical opponents than yourself. Relying on the Force and lightsabers alone will help you win respect for those who still value honor in our Order. As if it was a prize to be sought by the most brilliant amongst us instead of a fool's gold that ought to be cast aside," Vowrawn replied. Then he snapped his fingers and two guards, dressed from head to toe in red robes, stood to attention.

"See that this man is made comfortable in suitable Headquarters until I can persuade the Council into special session. If I can press the Council into a meeting, I will want him ready to do whatever he must within three standard hours," Vowrawn said. Then Hyperion was escorted by the guards who made him comfortable in a room big enough for about five times the possessions he carried on his person including foodstuffs and a place to hang up his weapons. He kept his lightsabers by his side in case he was to be tested while he waited for the meeting to arrive along with his collapsible shield and a slugthrower pistol.

Fortunately, he didn't need to worry about being tested. Apart from air ducts that were too small for any other than a powerful Shi'ido to climb through, the Imperial guards were outside to intercept virtually anyone who might have come for him before Vowrawn did. When the call was inevitable sounded, Hyperion's door was open and Vowrawn asked for him to join the Council in special session. The guards fell in line beside them with Hyperion only having to worry about his back during the journey to the Council Chambers. When he arrived, he was pleased to find that of twelve members, the Council still had seven active and/or alive.

Darths Ravage, Mortis (a Human far past his peak), Nox, Zavakon, and Darth Jadus (who'd previously tried to reshape the Empire to his benefit) were still there. Aside from Vowrawn, there was also one other that Hyperion recognized as a Pa'un, native to the planet Utapau. Where Mortis was long past his peak and Ravage seemed in a similar decline, Jadus felt like someone who could've rivaled or surpassed Vitiate in fair duels. But Jadus was also known for biding his time and waiting for the right chance to strike, seizing power never for its own sake but because it advanced the goals he and those who served him envisioned for themselves.

"By request of the Dark Council," began Jadus, "I hereby call this session to decide whether Vowrawn's latest recruit should be induced to the Sith ranks. Let us begin these proceedings." And so they did with Hyperion standing dead center of the septet's lethal circle of power. Here, he and Crassus both made sure to tread carefully with all that they said and did.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

"State your name for the record, Human," asked the Pa'un member of the Council, a man Hyperion would learn was called Darth Imperius.

"My name is Hyperion Corialanus Algethii, son of Caius Julius Algethii II, grandson of Julius Crassus Algethii III. Former prince of the planet Algethiius and ex-mercenary for hire to the Sith Empire," Hyperion said.

"You stated you were an 'ex-mercenary'. What changed?" Jadus interjected. Hyperion knew that the cunning Darth Jadus never spoke things as simply as they appeared. This was a man who had ambitions to lead the Empire someday and perhaps would even succeed in not only restoring it to a time of prominence but perhaps topple the Republic. Hyperion took the thought into consideration before then admitting what it was that he had done to earn the title.

"On an assassination mission that went horribly awry, I was partnered with a Trandoshan named Drak," Hyperion began. After a moment to compose his words that he might speak them, he continued by saying, "When the mission went to hell, Drak found himself at my mercy holding on for dear life to a piece of railing that preceding an abyss. Figuring on ending the rivalry we'd developed, I smashed his good hand until he let go despite the fact he would inevitably come back for me a while later. We later had to work once more to defeat a mutual enemy in Clyde Rev the smuggler but that is irrelevant."

"So you think that because you betrayed a necessary ally among the Sith, somehow, you are no longer an ally of the Sith? You had the audacity to perform the deed and the cunning to avoid getting caught for it: you reveal weakness in believing that confessing would make us respect you more. It is a good thing that we had deemed it best to test you before we let you come into the ranks of the Sith. Our current instructor may yet have no difficulty eliminating you," Jadus said.

"Then I challenge your Emperor's Wrath. Among my more recent murder victims were the Brothers Bane of Dromund Kaas, an enemy the Wrath couldn't kill. I hold with me one of their lightsabers which, if I recall correctly, could only be pried from their cold dead hands," Hyperion snapped, bringing out the yellow-bladed lightsaber he carried with him, levitating it for any that might recognize the hilt. There were whispers of dissent amongst the Councilmen with some agreeing with Hyperion's proposal while others were unsure.

"You have made a bold proclamation and presented proof that you can yet support it. Do you still wish to follow through with your challenge to the Emperor's Wrath?" Jadus asked, sounding intrigued by the possibilities. Hyperion nodded and the Emperor's Wrath was summoned, a slightly smaller man than his challenger which told Hyperion several things off the bat. With his armor, he was slightly taller and would likely use the added bulk of said armor to augment his Form V usage but his reliance would be on the forms of speed, agility, and precision. The psychopathic glare in his eyes told Hyperion he would be aggressive in his tactics, perhaps relying on Juyo, Makashi, and Ataru predominantly with some Shien and Niman.

He didn't have a sturdy tank-like build that would have allowed him to use Djem So but that never stopped Humans from using the form successfully before. Since Shii-Cho was the most basic, there was no reason to believe he would make significant use of it beyond remembering his fatality zones and perhaps the odd slash to set him off guard. As could be expected of the Sith, Soresu would likely be his weakest form even if Form III would still see some expertise from him. Unless provided an opportunity, he would also never use Jar'Kai with only one lightsaber immediately visible and Hyperion intent on using both of his. This would eliminate any chance he had of also using saberstaff combat unless his weapon was one.

But when Hyperion saw a hilt the size of the traditional blade, he knew he could safely eliminate when he unclipped and ignited both of his own, readying himself for action. As he saluted with purple and yellow blades, letting his opponent present a salute with his single blood-red one in return, the Council approved the start of the duel when they were ready. "May the best man win," Vowrawn said. Hyperion eyeballed his opponent just as he had done with the Havoc Squad soldier, albeit with more limitations since his opponent was also Force-sensitive.

 _His advantages: his aggression, his experience in combat, his training in the forms, and any unknown Force powers he might be reserving. My advantages: my superior age, superior experience, my environmental Force powers, and my shield. Use the first joust to find out his leanings then counter accordingly_ Hyperion told himself silently. So for the first flurry, he countered with one blade and defended with another one, alternating the purposes of his blades so that he could keep on the edge. In doing this, he used his Makashi with both blades and twirls of Niman to unsettle as well as some of Ataru's acrobatics to truly unsettle the man.

He also alternated between using this combination and shutting off one blade to use Soresu then counter with Juyo. When the pair of dueling Sith finally gave distance between each other, it was because Hyperion had thrown the yellow blade with saber throw then used Force Push when it was deflected. In the time the Wrath was flying from it and rolling back to his feet, Hyperion recovered and reignited his yellow blade, using Force Leap once he did so to half the width of the gap between them. Before he could charge in, the Wrath forced him to stop by shooting volts of blue Force Lightning that Hyperion was forced to reflect with his blades before he could attack. "Impressive, rogue: you have survived my first attack," said the Wrath.

"My compliments to you as you. You're stronger than I expected of a victim of the Brothers Bane," Hyperion replied, putting the slightest hint of emotional suggestion into his voice, augmenting that suggestion with the Force where he could. He saw it take effect with the Emperor's Wrath snarling slightly but Hyperion knew how he was going to defeat this man now. Just then, Crassus interjected, pausing everything around Hyperion and emerging before his eyes.

 _I can help you squash this gnat and earn yourself the position of Emperor's Wrath. You need only let me take the briefest moment of control_ Crassus offered. His mouth was moving but for whatever reason, it was just like if he was communicating to the elder specter telepathically. Even so, Hyperion didn't even need to think about how he was going to answer the offer his grandfather made.

"I will reserve your power for a legitimate threat. This one will fall because I was worthy of defeating him and besides, a wise Sith never reveals all his secrets immediately," Hyperion told him. Crassus vanished, time resumed, and Hyperion was ready for the next onslaught as the Wrath leapt forward with what looked like a Falling Avalanche launched from his shoulder. So he then surprised him by bringing up his shield, unfolding it so that the strike could be intercepted in full with a swing that allowed him to push the Wrath off him. As soon as the blade was swung over to the side, Hyperion jabbed the shield into Hyperion's face but the Wrath dodged with a back flip though Hyperion soon caught him with a Force Choke.

The Wrath stopped him from finishing the job with another volley of Force Lightning, a clever move even if he was ultimately doomed to fail. For Hyperion now knew the man's more habitual tendencies when fighting, knew how to use the Force to counter him, and that unorthodox defenses like the shield threw him off. So after reflecting the Force lightning with his purple blade, he threw the yellow one ahead of him then leapt with the Force to help him cover the distance. Once the blade had been swatted aside, he used the acrobatics of Ataru, the stabs of Makashi, the slashes of Juyo, and the Force attacks of Niman predominantly. The Wrath's fate was sealed when Hyperion performed a variant of Niman's Pushing Slash where, rather than use a Force Push after slicing with the blade, he shot bolts of his own purple Force Lightning.

He kept the pressure on until he knew he'd softened up the Emperor's Wrath then let him go and successfully performed a Falling Avalanche the man could not fend off. That was, he couldn't defend against it without his blade falling out of his hand and sliding across the floor behind the Wrath's immediate reach. Hyperion sliced his face with an undercut strike and used the time between the strike and the Wrath sprawling on his back to call his yellow blade into his possession. Pointing both down upon reacquisition of his trophy from the Brothers Bane, he stabbed both lungs that collapsed the organs and caused the Wrath to permanently lose breath as the heat of the blades also boiled the blood that circulated into his throat. He was dead in a matter of moments when this strike was completed and Hyperion shut off both blades, returning them to where he usually clipped them on his belt.

When he returned to the center of the Council chambers, he knew he would now be subjugant to the Council's judgement of his abilities. "While I do not praise your usage of a metal shield, I appreciate the cunning and deception of using unorthodox tactics in conjunction to brutal techniques of aggression. I vote to have Hyperion Algethii replace the fallen Emperor's Wrath he killed in fair combat," Jadus declared.

"A shield and Jar'Kai can never substitute for misdirection and Dun möch but in the absence of skill in the latter, you have done well for yourself. You have my vote," said Lord Imperius. Ravage and Mortis also voted him in, securing majority support, as did his advocate Lord Vowrawn. Nox and Zavakon also placed in their votes, making support for the decision unanimous. Lord Jadus declared him the Emperor's Wrath on behalf of Darth Verrin, the Emperor of the Sith, the note of the meeting's adjournment after Hyperion's predecessor was cleaned up from the floor. Even Crassus congratulated his grandson on this pivotal victory before Hyperion returned to his quarters, which would change as soon as the old Wrath's body as given a proper funeral; a funeral that, like the duel, had been watched by another with her own eyes on the Dark Side's power.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

Morgana watched the duel between Hyperion, now the new Wrath of the Emperor, and the funeral for the fallen one rather intently. As soon as he had openly declared that his name was Hyperion, she knew that she had her ancient enemy in her sights now. _It would seem as though it had been wise of me to infiltrate the ranks of the Sith_ Morgana thought silently. She had a contact in the Sith who would introduce her to the Council after Hyperion's feat as performed. When she learned he was the new Emperor's Wrath she knew the situation was going to get complicated but in a manner that she liked.

It put him in the perfect place for her to get her revenge without getting her hands dirty or directly facing him unless approved to do so by the rest of the Council. She could only think of one way that she could secure that kind of power for certain, one way in which she could secure the full extent of her revenge. If she challenged a Dark Council member to fair combat for their position, and she won, she could absorb all they possessed and declare a Kaggath on Hyperion. There was just one problem: once she declared a Kaggath, she would have to make due with the resources she had and could not rely on _any_ outside help. This meant that before she could make her move, she had to call on favors she was owed within the Republic to summon paramilitary forces that could work for hire against Hyperion.

Of course, the problem with _that_ course of action was that as mercenaries, in accordance with the rules of the Kaggath, they could argue that Hyperion offered better pay. They could also argue that Morgana had made her personal crusade her top priority as opposed to benefiting her new allies within the Sith Empire. More, she would have to live with the fact that Hyperion was a political equal to her and could garner some support from the members of the Council who felt the same way those hypothetical paramilitaries she'd hire could feel. She also had to remind herself that she wasn't the only one with favors as Hyperion had made more than his fair share of allies he could call upon, allies with the power to back him up with paramilitaries of his own. But of course, she always had an ace in the hole of calling upon the Devils of Mustafar to stop him once she had him pinned somewhere that would be of convenience to them.

More, even if she declared a Kaggath on him, she would only be limited to the resources allowed a member of the Dark Council. To seal Hyperion's doom for certain, she would have to either involve or overthrow the Emperor and take his mantle of power from him. Once she had the backing of the entire Empire, she could declare a Kaggath and have the loyalty of the entire Council and the resources beneath her command. Tempting though it was, she was going to have to bide her time and wait until she knew the scope of the Emperor's power for certain before she attacked him. Fortunately, not long after Hyperion left, her waiting came to an end when a purple and black Zabrak of more immense Dark Side energy than the entire Council combined entered.

"What is the meaning of letting my Wrath be killed by another warrior!?" asked the Zabrak asked at once.

"With due respect my lord," began Vowrawn, "the warrior who replaced him had already managed to kill the Brother's Bane of Dromund Kaas. One of them fell without Hyperion even using a lightsaber or so my spies have told me." Morgana didn't know how Vowrawn could've had spies that would have told him about Hyperion killing the Echani twins but she paid it no mind. In their need to survive, the Sith had probably planted sleeper agents that they activated when their power was broken by the Republic's use of Zakuul technology. It was the only way they could have any spies who could effectively transmit and receive information the Sith could use without the scrutiny of the Republic.

At any rate, she decided it best to settle for the role of a member of the Dark Council as soon as she sensed the Emperor's power. "With due respect to your choice in warriors, my lord, we need sword arms of great strength that the Jedi have chosen to reject. Your choice in Wrath was excellent in this regard but Hyperion was simply better," Darth Mortis agreed. Morgana looked over his way and she could tell he was well past his better days... maybe he would be the one who'd need to go and proving him weak should be easy enough.

"I will require that he be tested for his worth as the Emperor's Wrath position. Only when I have seen him for myself will I decide to keep him!" the Emperor declared.

"As you wish, Emperor Verrin. If he disposed of his predecessor as he did, passing your tests should be easy enough," Vowrawn declared. _Careful that you not offend Emperor Verrin with your words_ Morgana silently taunted.

"At any rate, what other order of business did you want me here for?" asked the Emperor.

"My lord," began Lord Ravage, Morgana's advocate, "I have a candidate with the potential to become another member of the Dark Council as we might have made Hyperion. She is a sorceress who was trained by exiled Sith Lord, Darth Inferis. Of late, she has gone by the name she was given at birth but she may reclaim her old Darth title if she is elected as you know." The Emperor nodded and asked for the potential candidate to introduce herself and that was when Morgana stepped in.

"Greetings my liege, I am Morgana L'etoile Brilliante. I am the former head of the Brilliante Enterprise, a wealthy business on Taris and have since been using the money reaped from its liquidation to pursue my own goals," Morgana said. In respect, she knelt before the Emperor as soon as she knew she was in earshot of him while she spoke. He looked her over and she could feel him doing so with the power of a quiet storm, forever brewing and ready to rip the cosmos asunder with its lightning.

"Tell me Morgana, what were your ambitions?" he asked.

"Beyond overthrowing my Master and destroying Lord Inferis, I've been pursuing the man who raped my sister who committed suicide after giving birth to the child. I became a Sith Lady originally so that I might have the power to protect her but when she took her own life, I knew better than to dwell on anything except my vengeance to the man who ruined her," Morgana told him, the truth without revealing that Hyperion was the subject of her vengeance. Had Hyperion been there, he would have recognized her outright as the sister of Patricia especially once she sounded off her name as she had done. He might yet still recognize her if she were to introduce herself to him after this meeting was completed.

"I sense power within you, a simmering hatred waiting to feed on its subject. While I could ask you to reveal the identity of the individual behind your sister's troubles, I have no interest. As long as you forswear your ties to the past, I am prepared to let you be inducted into our ranks as a Lord," Verrin told her.

"May I ask, my liege, if that would mean forswearing my vengeance? The subject of my vengeance is within these walls and I would run him to the ground if I could," Morgana asked.

"Provided that your vengeance does not hinder the growth of the Empire as a whole, you will be allowed to pursue it. However, should you prove to be slowing down the return of the Empire to prominence in pursuing your revenge, you will find yourself wishing for a quick and painless death," Verrin said. Before Morgana could speak, she was bombarded by visions of more gruesome tortures than she could possibly imagine.

Needles with substances she'd never encountered before were injected into her, causing the burning of synox poison only a hundred thousand times worse. Chains yanked her limbs from side to side until she heard her joints pop and felt her flesh rip like flimsiplast. "Do you understand?" Emperor Verrin said at the end of it all. Morgana nodded quickly and visibly, so that the Zabrak Emperor of the Sith would perceive it. _I will have to be much cleverer than I originally expected if I want to take over this man's position_ Morgana told herself, frightened.

"Then I hereby declare you a Dark Lord of the Sith, I recommend you reclaim the Darth name you once had under your tenure as Inferis' apprentice. Despite his radical opinions about the formation of the Sith, he was a powerful and respectable master of the Dark Side in life. For you to have killed him has earned you at least a prominent place amongst us. So do you want to have your Darth name back?" Verrin asked. Morgana needed only a moment to think back to the name she had given herself when first she had become Inferis' true apprentice.

"My name is Darth Minshuto, Lady Sorcerer of the Sith," she said. Verrin nodded and called for Darth Nox to be assigned to her as her Master. When he was asked why, he explained it was because Nox was the Keeper of Knowledge and he felt Morgana's talents would best be utilized in service to Nox. The Council ultimately voted agreement with the Emperor's decision as they would inevitably be forced to do with their power dwarfed by him. Morgana also sensed that among the Dark Council members, Nox was the only one of significant power and the relatively good physical health needed to appropriately use it.

Morgana's first task as the apprentice of the Knowledge Keeper was to help her with the compilation of data from parchment scans. The predominant purpose of this was to organize the scans in accordance with the pages of the parchment for which they were recorded then make them into a holographic book that could be read back to back. It was a tedious affair but in doing so, Morgana was proving her worth to the Sith Empire, an all too important step in exacting her revenge against Hyperion. Plus, her position allowed her the best opportunity she was ever going to have on bringing enough grime on Lord Mortis' part to justify his downfall to the Emperor.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine**

Hyperion had been summoned to the chambers of the Emperor, shortly after the funeral arrangements of his predecessor had been made and executed. "How may I serve my lord?" Hyperion asked when he arrived to the Emperor's chambers. Out of respect, he knelt before the Emperor and tossed his deactivated lightsabers to his chair that he might be unable to use them in time to save himself if he tried to fight him. The guards initially pointed their pikes his way but when they saw him disarming himself, they relaxed.

"I have but one simple test to determine if you are even fit to call yourself my Wrath. In the training chambers on the first floor or eight Zabrak children, all of whom are my children by other concubines. I need to see that you are capable of turning them into fighting warriors before their training is complete. Be ruthless in your methods, be merciless in your words, torture with the Force if you must but ignite within them the potential to be true heirs to my legacy," the Emperor commanded. Hyperion nodded and when he was permitted to do so, he raised his gaze up to the man he would be serving.

"May I inquire if it is possible to bring your sons here while I am still unarmed? I intend not only to prove my worth in your own sanctuary but to do so with nothing more than my words, my bare hands, and my powers," Hyperion told him. Crassus warned him along the line of playing a dangerous game but Hyperion ignored it. As a double-agent of the Republic, he was already playing a dangerous game simply by even being here and attempting to hinder the interests of the Sith for the sake of the Republic and his son, Menelaus.

Yes, he was staring at the man whose seed had conceived Menelaus but he knew better than to believe this truly made Verrin the boy's father especially when Hyperion was the one who raised him. But as Verrin smiled hungrily and nodded his approval, calling on guards to bring his sons to the throne room, Hyperion couldn't help but begin to feel embittered to be in this man's presence. Here was the man who had literally conceived his son yet here he was treating the other children he had by other women as expendable grunts in his army. When the boys finally came, Hyperion was angry enough that he could probably get away with appearing like he was drilling them and have it be sincere.

So he began with something very direct and simple where his obligations to Verrin were concerned. "Listen up maggots," he began, "I am the new Emperor's Wrath and your father has asked me to test the lot of you. To make you into the deadliest fighting machines in this Empire's history. I don't like any of you and I know that you aren't going to like me: you will hate me, you will spite me, you will even want to kill me before the training is done. But the more you hate me, the more you try to resist me, the more you will learn from me!"

 _You hold his interest, perhaps it is time to begin showing examples of what you mean by what you say_ Crassus suggested. Hyperion mentally scoffed at doing it just yet, the thought having already come across him in the moments past. "From now on, and until you complete training, you are not the Emperor's sons you are not special princes destined to succeed your daddy when you're in my presence. You're not even fracking Zabraks, you are globbing pieces of amphibian poodoo! You are scum, you are the most disgusting piece of poodoo to ever walk the cosmos!

"I don't look down on color, height, sex, or even Force-sensitivity: with me you're equally useless. When I call on you, you will be called maggots and when you address me, the first and last word of every sentence you speak will be sir. You maggots understand?" Hyperion declared, sensing a spark in Verrin when he spoke those words.

"Sir, yes sir!" said the eight in unison.

"Bantha fodder, I can't hear you!" Hyperion replied, sensing intrigue and even approval from Verrin.  
"Sir, yes sir!" said the eight, even louder than before.

"Bantha fodder, I still can't hear you!" Hyperion shouted, even more commanding than before.

"Is this Satele Shan? Is this me?" said one of the sons.

"Who said that!? Who the hell said that!?" Hyperion snapped, even angrier than before. "Who's the no good piece of bantha fodder that just signed his damned death warrant! Nobody, huh? Did the kriffin' fairy godmother speak up just now? If no one speaks up, I'll have you all PT until you kriffing die!" Hyperion roared. He looked at one of Verrin's smaller sons and marched over to him.

"Was it you who said that, you no good fracking pile of bantha fodder!?" boomed the bald human.

"Sir, negative sir!" said the short son.

"I'll bet it was you," Hyperion snarled.

"Sir, I said it sir," said a slightly taller Zabrak with orange and brown patterns. Hyperion walked over to him and decided to address him as a bully might address his target.

"Prince Joker, I admire your honesty. Hell, you can come over to my quarters and shag my mother," Hyperion sarcastically replied before backhanding the Zabrak. "You had best unfrack yourself real fast or I will rip off your skull and shavit down your throat!" he added a moment later. He turned to another one after that and asked him, "What's your excuse?"

"Sir, excuse for what, sir?" replied the prince.

"I'm asking the fracking questions around here. You understand?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Well thank you very much, highness, can I be in charge for a fracking while?"

"Sir yes sir!"

"Are you nervous, prince?"

"Sir, I am sir!"

"Do I make you nervous?"

"Sir..."

"Sir what, are you about to call me a Shik?"

"Sir no sir!"

"How tall are you, highness?"

"Sir, 1.79 meters sir!"

"1.79? I didn't know they stacked shavit that high! You trying to squeeze another inch on me?"

"Sir negative sir!"

"Bantha fodder, you look like the best part of you ran down your mother's anus and ended up as a brown stain on the mattress! I think you've been cheated," Hyperion said. If Verrin wasn't sufficiently impressed before, he most certainly was now and Hyperion fed on it. He ended his spiel with a taller but somewhat fat son that he had noticed smiling like an idiot.

"Your mother have any children that lived?" he asked the man.

"Sir yes sir!"

"I bet she regrets that, you're so ugly you could be a modern Mon Cala sculpture! What's your name, glob?" Hyperion commanded.

"Sir, Tyberian sir!"

"I don't like Tyberian, that name sounds snobbish. Are you snobbish, prince?" Hyperion demanded.

"Sir, no sir!" said Tyberian.

"Do you lick Choobies?" Hyperion commanded.

"Sir, no sir!"

"Poodoo, I bet you could like the chocolate ice cream off a waffle cone in one go!" Hyperion exclaimed. Verrin chuckled for what was probably the first time he found humor in anything other than torture.

"Sir, no sir!"

"I don't like the name Tyberian, only faggots and pirates are called Tyberian! From now on, your name is Blob!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"You think I'm pretty? Do you find yourself in love with me?"

"Sir, no sir!"

"Then wipe that pathetic grin of your face!" Hyperion ordered, having noticed his smile even at the start. The man tried his best but couldn't quite remove the grin completely but Hyperion didn't relent. "Any fracking time, honey!" he added, a moment later.

"Sir I'm trying sir."

"Private Blob, I'm going to give you exactly three seconds to wipe that disgusting grin off your face or I will gouge out your eyeballs and skull rape you! One, two, three!" Hyperion yelled at the top of his deep, growling voice. At that point, Hyperion grasped him in a Force Choke to see if that helped him remove the smile. "You done there, Blob?"

"Sir, yes sir," the prince managed to say, if strained. The entire time, Verrin watched with the hunger and excitement of an anooba anticipating a kill.

"Fracking bantha fodder, I can't hear you!" Hyperion said, slightly increasing the pressure.

"Sir, yes sir!" the prince shouted even more desperately. His brothers made as if to help him but the Imperial Guard readied themselves at Verrin's orders.

"Bantha fodder, sound off like you got testicles!" Hyperion told him. The prince did so and Hyperion let him go, allowing him to catch his breath before speaking again, firstly ordering him on his feet. "Prince Blob, you had best square up and start shooting out gold brick choobies or I will fracking annihilate you!" added the Human.

"Sir yes sir!" said the prince when he'd recovered in full. The hate and anger was simmering in them all, feeding off Hyperion's own agitation and in turn giving it strength. Hyperion turned briefly to Verrin, curious to see if he had gained the Emperor's approval and when the Emperor grinned maniacally while nodding his acceptance, Hyperion dismissed the lot. As they left, he sensed the Emperor's resentment at the idea and when they were out of earshot, their father spoke up.

"Why did you dismiss them?" Verrin asked.

"I pressed my point. Why did I need to go on?" Hyperion replied.

"Was my approval that obvious?" Verrin inquired. Hyperion nodded, figuring that was the polite way to reply. Even if he wanted to say it was more obvious than the lies of a Twi'lek whore, he kept that to himself. The Zabrak Emperor laughed and levitated Hyperion's lightsabers back into his hands before speaking again. "You are more than worthy of the title. I sensed sincere rage and hatred boiling within you, like a seasoned soup that has been left to heat too long in a cauldron," Verrin told him.

"I'm the Emperor's Wrath, aren't I? What is the Wrath if not the embodiment of the Emperor's rage?" Hyperion replied.

"Well spoken, Hyperion. Your predecessor couldn't even get a fire going during the three years he trained them and yet you riled them up in less than fifteen standard minutes," Verrin replied.

"Then it was fortunate that I exorcised the Sith of his weakness rather than allowed it to continue," Hyperion retorted. The Zabrak smiled and chuckled, the latter an unsettling sound that Hyperion hoped never to hear again if it could be helped. Even so, he was pleased about the end result, that of securing the support of the Emperor in the Council's decision to appoint Hyperion as the Emperor's Wrath in the wake of the death of the predecessor.

Soon as he was finished being humored, the Emperor stated, "From here on, I expect you to be even harder on my sons. If I should happen to drop by, I want to hear that you ran my weaker heirs to the ground if that is what it takes for successful training. You are dismissed if you understand this." Hyperion bowed and thanked his liege before turning to leave with the Imperial Guards watching his back as he exited. Like he would be foolish enough to squander this grand opportunity. Instead, he knew that rather than stay, he had a call to make to his brother about his mission status and what he had learned, what he had done, and what he planned to do.

 **A/N: Before anyone comments, yes I did borrow a lot from the first drill sergeant scene in _Full Metal Jacket_ with actual drill sergeant, R Lee Ermey, as the trainer. I deliberately chose to reference this because I felt it the best way to express Hyperion's past training with the Sith as well as pay homage to a military official and a filmmaker that I both deeply respect and admire. If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it and hope you all enjoyed reading this scene as much as I enjoyed writing it.**


	10. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten**

As soon as Hyperion was able, he left the Imperial Palace to find an independent channel on which to call Dantius. Finding a channel that was virtually untraceable to the Sith and the Jedi, he commed his brother's frequency. "Hyperion, I wasn't expecting news for at least another standard month! What do you have for me?" Dantius exclaimed.

"For starters, the Sith are in a terribly desperate spot. I've challenged and killed the Emperor's Wrath, earning his place as a direct result. Hell, the Emperor already has me training his sons in the ways of the Dark Side as proof that I am worthy of the position. More, it seems like they have good strong fortifications here and Balmorra with their spare armaments being sent to Dathomir in order to bolster its defenses," Hyperion said, having learned of the Dathomir shipments during his second day of residence among the Sith.

 _An errand boy and double-agent of the Jedi? You have truly fallen far to be agreeing to the role of messenger and mole for your brother_ Crassus replied. Hyperion winced at the reply, encouraging Dantius to ask what was wrong with his older brother.

"Nothing I can't overcome at the moment, don't you worry. But I do feel the pull of the Dark Side whilst being here. It's not as strong as it would be for a Jedi Knight like yourself but it's there all the same," Hyperion told him. Crassus was probably saying something about himself growing stronger with every day that Hyperion acknowledged or even tried to fight him. However, Hyperion ignored this and continued with the report he had to give Dantius and the Republic military.

"Any weaknesses? Structural, military, anything that we can use?" Dantius continued.

"It seems that in order to destroy their armaments, you're gonna need a three-pronged attack on both worlds. You'll need space to be one prong, land another, and underwater the third in order to fully catch them off guard enough to defeat them. I recommend full-scale fleets for the space battle while a full-scale invasion force takes both of the other prongs. That's if you want to make absolutely sure that there isn't a high chance the Sith will survive to haunt the galaxy again and even then, a few may still escape to rebuild, a few always do," Hyperion said.

"You said you had become the Emperor's Wrath and you're training the Emperor's sons by his concubines. What do you suggest would be the best strategy if we're to expunge the galaxy of as many Sith as possible?" Dantius asked. Nearly fifteen years ago, Dantius had captured Hyperion in the Hapes Cluster and held him under interrogation at Vornu about the movements of General Nobunaga, Crassus' most indispensable servant. Back then, Hyperion had not been cooperative and even made threats to the effect of destroying Dantius' then-current love affair, Ashlynn Thorin. This time, Hyperion intended to do right when Dantius asked him questions about the Sith, no matter their grandfather's protestations.

"Allow me to demonize the Republic to any and every pupil I train. Permit to fill their heads with lies about its military, the Jedi, and much more until they're certain it's kill or be killed when you arrive. You'll have all your authorization to kill as many as you can without having actually goaded them to that end. More, when news of our victory are broadcast on the HoloNet, any potential Sith sympathizers would be hard-pressed to remain so loyal," Hyperion said. Dantius mulled that possibility over, debating whether or not to let that fly what with this mission already being off the kinds of channels the Jedi normally had access to.

"Yet if they gain any traction at all, they'll stop at nothing to eliminate every trace of the Republic and the Jedi Order that they possibly. Your propaganda could be what spells the doom of the Light Side of the Force if this goes to hell," Dantius said after several moments of thought.

"Yet if I should be caught relaying information to the Jedi, I could always argue that I was relaying false information provided me by the Emperor himself. More, I could say that whether or not I was a traitor, my superiors couldn't argue with the kind of warriors I produce. In addition, if you intercept any Sith force sent to Mandalore, they won't gain that kind of traction," Hyperion explained.

"Mandalore?"

"Among the Emperor's intended steps towards reinvigorating the Sith is to reunify the Mandalorian tribes whether that means putting up a puppet or taking the helmet himself. Unfortunately, either way, Shae Vizsla isn't about to give up the title of Mandalore without a fight and the mask hasn't been seen since Mandalore the Preserver. The only way the Emperor is going to get Mandalore back under Sith rule is to honor its customs and hope he has a warrior strong enough to pull the job off," Hyperion replied.

"But if he succeeds in getting Mandalore's tribes back under his thumb, it'll accelerate his plans for a return to prominence in the galaxy by centuries. You were right to tell me, I'll have military forces dispatched there at once and I'll send someone after the mask of Mandalore. In case the Sith bypass the Jedi I intend to send to Mandalore to intercept the Emperor's chosen disciple," Dantius told Hyperion. The older Human nodded and then informed his brother that he should be returning soon. Curfew was about to start in a standard hour and he would need to be up to train the Emperor's sons near dawn.

Dantius nodded and informed him to call again in three months' time if he could. "Three months is too early to tell if my regimen will have the desired effect. I need at least half a standard year before I could even think of having significant results for you. But work on mustering a force now, using the intel that I've provided you so that the Emperor knows the Republic will meet his every attempt to reignite an alliance with Mandalore. On this end, you're my only hope," Hyperion begged.

"Alright, you have seven standard months to place your training regimen and inform me of the effects. Doubtless, even if it's effective, the Emperor will still need at least another year before he is ready to launch any kind of attack," Dantius.

"Don't be so sure of that. He's been stockading on this world since the Empire fell from prominence, eleven years ago. Even with those seven months noted, he may be ready sooner than you expect to begin flex his muscles. He'll have to if he wants to keep his place long enough to name an heir to replace him in the event of his death by old age or assassination," Hyperion stated.

"Good point, I didn't think of that. Even so, keep me informed of the latest developments you're able to find. I want political machinations every month where possible and I want those military ones by a minimum of seven months. This information will help me determine when the right time to strike will be and give me information I can proudly present to the Chancellor," Dantius said.

"The Chancellor?" Hyperion asked.

"Of course, who else has the power to expunge your records at a command? Who else would have approved this mission and kept it incognito? The Chancellor's seal of confidentiality is illegal for the Jedi to breach without probable cause to believe a mission treasonous. And this one is the furthest thing from," his brother answered. He cut transmission before Hyperion had time to ask him why the Chancellor would be in on this despite what might have been a breach in trust for the Senate if this mission came to light.

A mission as confidential as this could never have been introduced to the Senate as a bill needing approval. If it did, it would indicate that the Republic had done a sloppy job of eradicating the Sith and was asking its people to approve them funding another war. Another war meant more bonds, more loans dispensed, and more money for the Intergalactic Banking Clan to get their thin, hairless, Muun hands on. Such things would not be approved by the vast majority of the Republic, too tired and broken down by the war that came to willingly invite another one.

Whoever the Chancellor was in this cycle, they were putting their political career and their personal lives at risk in condoning this mission whether Dantius' idea or not. If this failed and the Republic learned of it, the Chancellor would be impeached for treason and the Vice Chancellor instilled just in time for the kind of full-scale war their predecessor hoped to stop. More, once said war was started, it would be uncertain whether or not the wearied Republic could win even with formerly Zakuulan technology on their side.

Hyperion realized now that the Sith were gaining ground faster than he might be able to stop them. What's more, aside from stolen Zakuulan technology, weaponry, and other items, Hyperion was giving the Sith the very tools they needed to destroy the Republic. If this backfired, he was going to give them enough anger, hate, and vengeance to bring Coruscant to ruins as Malgus had brought the Jedi Temple there to its foundations. It was a tumultuous time to be alive and making these risky tactical decisions for someone like Hyperion.

 _You have a perfect chance to rebuild yourself to the Dark Side, grandson. A chance to rise from the decadence of your exile and rise straight to the top of the Sith food chain_ Crassus told him as they journeyed back to the Citadel. Hyperion did his best to ignore his grandfather's command that he take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity. But when the nagging became to incessant to bear, Hyperion had to point out that in biding their time, they would be able to see what the Force will them. By the time he arrived to his bedroom in the Citadel, he had only time for two hours of meditation and fortunately, that was all he needed anyway.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven**

Though no one had seen Hyperion returning from his call with his brother, he knew better than to believe his actions weren't somehow being monitored. However, as he studied the patterns of Imperial life, a dark and more alarming truth became clear to him. They were so desperate for good warriors that they didn't care for his conduct as long as he had no explicit intentions of betraying the Empire to the mortal enemy of the Dark Side. He could waltz right in, kill the Emperor, take his title, the Sith wouldn't penalize him for it if he was the stronger one than their Emperor was. But the problem was that he knew he couldn't simply kill the Emperor on his own and even if he could, he still had to worry about clever bastards like Darth Jadus challenging him.

That man was an enigma to Hyperion and that made him dangerous, his power notwithstanding. He had power second only to Emperor Vitiate, making him stronger than even Emperor Verrin yet he had never made a bid for the throne. What was he waiting for, assuming he wanted the throne of the Empire for himself? If he didn't why didn't he want the power of the Empire for himself what was it that he sought? To lead the Empire to ruin from within or induce a state of pure anarchy as he was rumored to have attempted when Emperor Vitiate's absence was truly noted and admitted to the public by the Dark Council?

What was he waiting for that kept him only as First of the Council and not striving to be the Emperor? Was he waiting for the authority of a position like the Wrath in which case he could become a Voice or Hand of the Emperor? Could it be that he just simply wanted recognition for his cunning in a manner that could make him a powerful ally? That was when Hyperion hatched an idea, something he realized could prove his saving grace if he should ever need an ally. If the Emperor asked him if he'd like a favor performed, should Jadus still be just a member of the Council by then, he would have Verrin nominate him to an Emperor's Voice.

Apart from allowing Verrin to pursue his own devices whilst still dictating his will to the Empire, which was considerable enough, Jadus would be in a position to advise him. To recommend courses of action strategically beneficial to the Empire overall or else to his own designs. If Jadus chose the former, the Emperor would find more reason to respect his Wrath and perhaps throw more formal accolades upon him beyond training his sons. But if Lord Jadus chose the latter course, Hyperion was assured that at least one of two things would happen. He would either be on the right side when Jadus won or that he had been successful in undermining the Empire as a Republic mole.

And even if Jadus won before the plans to take Mandalore were a success, the Sith would be profoundly undermined to near-annihilation. All the Jedi and the Republic would have to do is lay the finishing blow on the dying Empire then the Sith would be vanquished as a whole. The only problem that plagued Hyperion was the question of whether or not that was just what Jadus wanted all along for purposes of reconstruction. He was tricky as the Sith came and powerful enough to personally oversee his designs come to fruition if he had to. That was when Hyperion was starting to consider the unthinkable: find a body Crassus could possess so that his rejuvenation would be completed in seconds, rather than years.

On the one hand, Crassus was a monster that could never be retracted once released upon the Sith. But on the other, if he possessed a worthy body such as Darth Imperius, he was the only one powerful and cunning enough to bring Jadus down if he betrayed the Empire. More, Crassus had the knowledge and experience in order to reshape the Empire into a fighting force, thanks to the success he had in making Algethiius a force of prominence in the Unknown Regions. Plus, like Emperor Vitiate before him, Crassus knew the Sith magicks and techniques of essence transfer to survive countless millennia on host bodies who aided him in ruling.

On top of that, the fact he had power he could draw on in aiding Hyperion meant that a body more powerful than Hyperion's would make him all but omnipotent once he took it over. That was the big risk, the unavoidable chance taken if he was allowed a strong body, that Hyperion feared. As he thrust himself into the routine of training the Emperor's Sons to someday surpass or even replace their father, he thought carefully about what he wanted to do. He was already going to have to think of a way the boys could be rewarded if and when they surmounted their trials to become fully fledged Sith Lords and the Emperor's Hand was looking promising. In the years following Vitiate's death, the original organization calling itself the Emperor's Hands was discovered to have been accessory to Vitiate's grandest of designs.

They had helped him oversee his immortality in a quest that consumed resources from the Empire, the Republic, and even Zakuul when it came into the picture. In response, Vitiate's short-lived predecessor (Darth Acina) toppled the organization, rounded up its servants, and ordered their execution in the heart of Dromund Kaas itself. She then declared the position available only to worthy heirs to the Emperor or Empress, specifically worthy specimens born of their blood as Verrin's children were, regardless of the mother's status. The children only needed to provide indisputable proof that they were the offspring of the Empire's ultimate master in order to be legitimate for the program but training to prove themselves was still required. What if this was the training, the regimen that proved they were worthy of being the Hands of the Emperor when the training was complete?

It would certainly provide the boys with an incentive and it would establish a reason that the Hands were effective at what they were meant to do. More, it would ensure that every single Emperor's Wrath from Hyperion onward would have a continuous supply of allies from among the Empire's most promising disciples or those next in line to the throne. On top of that, the ability to say that the Emperor's Wrath trained an aspiring Hand would be a more potent claim of power due to its excessive rarity. Another added point, one that made nominating Jadus to the Emperor's Voice all the more appealing, was that a Hand who went to the Emperor's Voice for political training would have an edge over those who simply trained with the Wrath alone. In the Sith world of competition, the more prestigious trainers you could add to your resume meant the more potential you had to become a Forceful being that could bring great change.

So when he finished training the eight sons of the Emperor another day, insulting them through part of it and physically draining them throughout the rest, he made his decision. He was going to speak to the Emperor about nominating any trainee of his who successfully completed his tutelage to the position of Emperor's Hand. However, he wouldn't do so with just his vote of confidence in his pupils alone: he would go before the Dark Council and voice both of his recommendations. He figured that if he could persuade the Council into his line of thinking and add his own vote of confidence to any bill he presented to the Emperor, he stood the best of all chances in convincing Verrin to do whatever he needed him to do.

Fortunately for him, the Council had enough respect and fear for Jadus that approving the notion to make him the Emperor's Voice was easier than approving the bill to offer Emperor's Hand to Verrin's sons. In the end, Hyperion persuaded them to accept provided that each time an Emperor fell, replacements for the Hands were selected and trained by the outgoing officials. Hyperion couldn't argue that and had actually failed to see that as a possibility in the initial bill he presented to the Dark Council. An aspiring heir to the throne who was trained by an Emperor's Hand, after the position started, could make the ultimate claim of worthiness to that very position if they petitioned for it. Taking combat lessons from the Emperor's Wrath and/or political classes from the Emperor's Voice would be just icing on that cake.

So with the revised bill about the Emperor's Hand and what training an aspiring one could acquire, he decided to approach Verrin about his idea. _Expect more skepticism about the idea of Jadus as a Voice and his sons as Hands than you had with the Dark Council. Any good Sith lord who values their life and their power will fear being toppled by allies of a competitor. And you're coming to him with a bill that will allow you to station competitors for the throne all around him_ Crassus warned.

"Only if he chooses to view them that way will it be true. If he's smart, this will be incentive to earn the same respect from them that he gets from the Dark Council. Who knows? Lord Jadus might be less inclined to compete against him if Verrin was persuaded to occasionally heed his advice in deciding the Empire's future. He's already going to have to allow him access to all the Empire's secrets in order for Jadus to function as the best of all Voices for the Emperor," Hyperion replied. Crassus moaned at the prospect that Verrin should ever bend to pressure like that and pay respect to lesser Sith such as them just to survive.

Then again, Crassus _was_ operating from the perspective of having never had his authority undermined until he pursued changing his fate after the prophecy of Hyperion's cousin. He had never known what it was like to ever need to respect anyone, having brainwashed entire generations under his thumb into abiding submission. It was just one of the things that, if Hyperion helped him cross back to the realm of the living, would make him one of the greatest emperors who ever lived among the Sith. Unfortunately for Crassus, it would probably mean one of the shortest reigns possible, with his power being the most coveted since Emperor Vitiate's own godly abilities. So with all that in mind, Hyperion knocked on the chambers, waited, and entered when he was called to do so with a new hope and a new fire in his aged eyes.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve**

"Do you know what you would be asking me if I said yes to this even with the approval of the Dark Council on your side?!" Verrin immediately demanded. Hyperion had explained the petition to make Jadus the Emperor's Voice, the reasoning behind it, as well as his bill about who should lay claim to the position of the Emperor's Hands. Hyperion nodded and carefully chose his words as he spoke to the man who'd made him one of the most powerful political figures in the Empire.

"I'm asking you to take the same risk that your subordinates take, every day. The risk of being surrounded by potential contenders who can eliminate you if you're weak and serve you if you're strong. In this day and age, reformation to how the Sith are allowed to compete with one another for power is needed. One that allows us to do so without facing the usual consequences of our destruction at the hands of the Jedi and their vaunted Republic. The Sith need not rule by brute force alone but by means of instilling fear and inducing confusion as a result of political cunning," Hyperion said.

"And why the Emperor's Hands of all positions? You do realize they only served Lord Vitiate when last they existed?" Verrin asked. Hyperion nodded and at once had an answer ready for this.

"The Emperor's Hands of Vitiate served his ultimate goal of devouring all life in the galaxy that he might live across the life of the cosmos. But since they've been destroyed in the invasion of Zakuul, we have a perfectly wonderful chance to reorganize the Hands anyway we see fit, including to the benefit of the Empire," said the Emperor's Wrath.

 _You speak of benefitting the Sith and their conquest even as you intend to make every effort to undermine their successes. Truly, you would've made for a terrific Sith Lord if you had completed your training before you betrayed me_ Crassus told his grandson. Hyperion inwardly snarled at the notion that he could've made a great anything that related to the Dark Side. Otherwise, he continued to stand at attention as he waited for Verrin to make a decision. When the Zabrak Emperor of the Sith finally spoke, Hyperion knew it would be the final word he'd say on the matter.

"I accept the terms proposed by yourself and the Council with two additional clauses. First, the aspiring Emperor's Hands must successfully complete training with both the Voice _and_ the Wrath. Second, they are obligated to recommend up to five Force-sensitives who are ambitious and unrelated to the Emperor's family to take their place should they fall for any reason, be it during training or during tenure at which point all five shall be tested. Let the Dark Council attach that to their stipulations and I will approve the bill to reintroduce the Emperor's Hands to the ranks of the Empire. I'll even work on a recommended course of training for your half of the time they must spend in addition to the Voice for his half," Verrin said.

Hyperion nodded and wrote down what Verrin wanted to add on a separate flimsiplast that he then attached to the overall bill for training. "Is there anything else you wish of me, my lord?" Hyperion asked.

"When the Council has reached a decision, I may have a mission for you to either conduct yourself or send your pupils on as a test of their skills. Personally, I prefer you resolve it yourself then give my children time to train with the Voice in your absence but it'll be up to you to make the final decision," Verrin said. Normally, a preference or suggestion from Verrin was a command to his subordinates but Hyperion had essentially undermined that authority to his face in the name of preserving the Empire. Still, the Human knew better than to test the bounds in which he could undermine such ruthless ambition and power anymore than he had to.

By putting Jadus in close proximity to him as the Voice and asking that the princes be trained as Emperor's Hands, he had likely strained his limits as the Wrath quite enough as it was. When Hyperion presented the amendment to the Council, they were surprisingly quick about approving it. If nothing else, they recognized the need to have Forceful beings every bit as ambitious to have the Emperor's ear as the Hands would be to have his throne. In Vowrawn's words, it would force them to think about how to outmaneuver their ambitious pupils as much as how to take the throne from the Emperor until they could be certain they could move unfettered. When the Council adjourned, Hyperion called on Jadus for one last request that would Hyperion would hope would be approved by the Emperor though not if he declared it.

"Ask the Emperor to recognize the Hands, Wrath, and Voice of the Emperor as separate entities deserving of the same treatment as the Dark Council. If he approves, it will mean none of us will be held legally accountable for lending no assistance if he's challenged in a Kaggath," Hyperion said.

"You are taking bold, unprecedented steps in your attempts to reform the Empire to a more adaptable state. Yet this reeks of power-seeking for yourself and any potential candidates that might succeed you. Normally, I find this trait commendable and have made no secret that I desire to practice these traits myself when possible but under the circumstances, I must inquire. Why should I ask the Emperor to make such a declaration whether or not the Dark Council supports him?" Jadus asked. Hyperion was impressed by the near-absolute nonchalance with which Jadus asked such questions and how methodically he seemed to probe him from behind his mask.

"Think of it this way, when the deceased Councilman Darth Thanaton challenged the second Emperor's Wrath to a Kaggath, he forfeited when he requested the aid of the Dark Council. The Wrath, Voice, and Hands of the Emperor are supposed to be considered equal to or greater than the Dark Council in authority with Voice having formerly been a host body for Lord Vitiate. If that is true, is it really fair for the Wrath, Voice, or Hands to be considered a resource the Emperor can rely on during a Kaggath while the Dark Council is above such responsibility? Or is it yet another sign that the Emperor fears someone learning that he is not as invincible as his posturing would suggest?" Hyperion explained.

"So you would have our Emperor show invincibility by leaving himself vulnerable to even his top-ranking members. More than that, you would do so in a manner that would allow the Voice, the Wrath, or the Hands to challenge him to a Kaggath if they felt the need arise. Do you understand the implication of what you are asking me to persuade the Emperor into approving, my reputation for fealty to him notwithstanding?" Jadus asked.

"If I do it, it will be looked upon as a power grab. But it is the fealty you have sworn since your failed attempts to sow chaos throughout the galaxy that makes you more persuasive. More to the point, in return for doing as I ask now, I will be giving you the kind of power you have dreamed of for your ambitions of chaos and destruction. I will be giving you the power to formally challenge the Emperor himself along with the information necessary to succeed if and when you amass enough resources to strike. Who would I be to judge if you failed after being handed all that help?" Hyperion replied.

"So you would have yourself, the Hands, and the others in a position to keep their most coveted assets and recuperate any lost during a Kaggath against the Emperor. If he wins, you will have the chance to rebuild whatever you may have secretly sent him or his opponent. But if his opponent wins, then the legal neutrality required during the Kaggath would mean the victor can count on you swearing fealty to him as you once did his predecessor. You... are a fascinating fellow, Hyperion Algethii: I do believe we shall work well together. I will make that one of my first propositions for the Emperor, following my ascension to the role of Emperor's Voice and after I have begun to attain the kind of information that'd serve me well," Jadus said, finally convinced.

"I am pleased I could be of assistance to you, the Emperor will inform me when he wishes to dub you Voice of Darkness but I suppose he will send you and the Empire a memo. For the glory of the Empire, it will be an honor to work with you more intimately from here on," Hyperion said, saluting by pumping a fist over his heart. Crassus chuckled when Jadus walked back to his headquarters, having terminated the conversation with a short bow to his equal.

 _Truly, you would've been a most invaluable service to my court when I was King of all Algethiius and its empire. You are cunning, patient, and you wield the power to personally supervise any plan's fruition as necessary_ Crassus told him.

 _I am merely ensuring my survival, regardless of whether I honor my true mission here or become convinced I would be on the right side to become loyal to the Sith. If I should feel I must defect, I've done enough to benefit the Empire that my survival is assured. But if I feel the need to complete my mission to the Jedi, I'll have done enough to ensure I can set the rest of the wheels in motion with impunity from my Imperial master_ Hyperion told him.

 _And that is why you would've done so well. You think only of your survival, regardless of which side you must betray in order to see it through. The difference is that you have more selfless intentions than most Sith who act as you do_ Crassus told him. Hyperion hated being reminded of his son by the vile spirit within him but how could he argue with him, for once? How could he tell Crassus he was wrong when Menelaus was exactly why he was here now?


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen**

Morgana was becoming fascinated by the kinds of political changes that Hyperion was making even as she focused on her plot to destroy him by first overthrowing Lord Mortis. She spent the next standard month or two finding dirt that she could use against him, using the resources Darth Nox allowed her as her apprentice. It took months of hacking that had to be cut short every session so that the hack would not be traced to her but she finally prevailed. Darth Mortis had a weakness she could exploit, a way she could draw him away from his power base and directly into a battle of her choosing.

Darth Mortis had a son of extraordinary power who had been diagnosed with Savant Syndrome. He had a gift in the Force that invigorated his father but was otherwise so severely mentally disadvantaged that he could barely even wipe his rectum without help from a nurse droid. The boy was not discovered to have autistic tendencies (which was consistent with a statistic of only half of all savants being autistic in any case) but what did it matter? Morgana had the perfect tool for the demise of Lord Mortis if she could expose him as weakened by compassion for his son. The fact that the boy's power had also kept Mortis invigorated past his prime was a further abomination to the Sith that would make him legally excisable by tradition.

More, if she exposed him for the weakling he was after killing his son, she could then challenge him for his seat where his denial of the challenge would confirm weakness. Better still, if Morgana exposed the story of the son to every member of the Dark Council, the only way they would allow Mortis to retain his seat after such scandal was if he conquered Morgana fairly. And since he was weak without his son's power to draw from, he would fall before Morgana's blade and she would be allowed to take his place on the Council. So it was that she had cut a deal with Lords of lesser power than herself: help her find a way to the boy and she would petition for their nominations to the Dark Council or positions loftier than their own underneath Nox.

Essentially she had offered to give them a chance of advancement, regardless of what strings she could pull with the Council, once the boy was dealt with and Mortis was destroyed with him. Three standard days ago, one of her new underlings came through for her and she was ready within hours to stage a coup against the savant boy. She waited until the guards were on rotation before she made her move then sped her way up to the boy's chambers before the guards completed their rotations. The witch was about three-quarters of the way up to the kid's chambers when the guards completed their shifts, a good sign for Morgana who had hoped to be at least halfway up before then. That was when she signaled her forces to provide the distraction needed to bypass the last of security by challenging the boy's guards to battle.

When she knew the guards would be spread too thinly to recognize that the threat that escaped them in time to save their prize, Morgana continued. This time, she was more brazen, preferring to make her approach known to the boy's mother in case she was any kind of challenge to Morgana's own might. By the time she arrived to the chambers, designed a meditation sphere that was connected to Mortis' own Force potential, she had encountered no guards and tripped enough alarms to where the boy's mother would be on the lookout for her. That is, if she valued the boy's life enough to save him from the threat Morgana posed though part of Morgana also wondered if the lady recognized Mortis' weakness as well. Cutting a square into the door with both lightsabers, she Force-pushed the sliced apparati aside and stepped in.

Her target was in a meditative trance, perhaps on the scheduled time that Morgana remembered reading about when she first discovered his existence. But she was startled by the sight before her: a boy of no more than seven or eight years old was feeding power to his father. She could see where he was doing it as well, watching him levitate in a glass tube that sucked the Force energy from him and channeled it in arcs of electricity that fueled Mortis' abilities. Mortis was relying on a kriffing _child_ to fuel his reign past the norms of even long-lived Council members. "Lord Coeus?" Morgana asked into her comlink.

"Speaking, milady," was the answer from the other side.

"Begin releasing the information we've accumulated. Hack into the databanks of this computer and make sure it is revealed that Mortis has been relying on a child to keep his seat. Looks to be no more than eight years old from what I'm seeing and no younger than seven," she ordered.

"As you wish, milady. I only need you to plug your comlink into a nearby terminal and I can lock onto your coordinates to begin hacking," said the Twi'lek Sith Lord. Morgana obeyed, finding a terminal she could only guess was the center of all data in this fortress, including Mortis' darkest fears and most cherished secrets. Then, reigniting the lightsabers she had deactivated for this purpose, she turned her eyes to destroying the boy and his station. She decided to start by destroying the most integral wiring of the station by destroying areas in which she could sense currents of Force energy surging through.

Once she sensed a backlash that would leave the boy writhing in pain until she had destroyed him, she prepared to make her move. But just then, she heard another lightsaber hiss to life which she suspected was the boy's mother. Upon first sensing the woman's power, Morgana knew she would be somewhat of a challenge but not insurmountable by any means. Not unless she relied on her experience, her maternal instinct, and strategy in order to defeat her younger and more powerful opponent. "I knew you would come, you are Lady Nox's newest apprentice, aren't you?" asked the woman.

"You have permission to refer to me as Darth Minshuto before I destroy you," Morgana told her.

"Your permission? I am the consort of Darth Mortis, a fully-fledged member of the Dark Council. You are in no position to be permitting me to call you by anything except what you are: a coward attacking a little boy who is has no ability to oppose you!" said the elder woman.

"The Dark Side must have taken your wits along with your beauty. If your consort is relying on this boy's power in order to keep his seat than he deserves neither seat nor son. I will expose his weakness even if you should succeed in killing me though your choice in men leads me to believe I needn't fear that. Your death and your lover's destruction should legitimize my claim to the Darth title I have chosen for myself quite nicely," Morgana mocked. Then they battled with Morgana relying on a combination of Makashi, Niman, Juyo, Soresu, and Ataru whenever she fought traditionally.

When her second lightsaber was entered the fight, she used a combination of the more aggressive arcs and twirls of Jar'Kai as well as a variant of saberstaff combat (thanks to magnetic pommels) that allowed usage of Soresu with both sides. By contrast, her opponent seemed to specialize in a combination of Juyo and Ataru, a combination apt to wear her down much more quickly than her younger opponent would be. But this only helped heighten Morgana's suspicions that lightsaber combat wasn't this woman's strongest area of ability when she recognized the strength of her aura during their exchange of blows. Sure enough, once a few minutes or so had passed, the woman began to show signs of wearing down even with her passions and her devotion to her son strengthening her resolve. On a blow that would have diagonally bisected Morgana if it had landed, the younger witch used the Force to speed herself backwards, hoping to goad the older hag into error by threatening her son.

Sure enough, the old woman tried to conjure a storm of Force electricity that Morgana knew would weaken her if it landed on lightsaber blades or was redirected at her at all. So Morgana met the full assault with her best application of Tutaminis, the spell of absorption that Force Lightning seldom possessed the power to overcome. Not without its wielder being outlandishly superior to the applicant of Tutaminis which wasn't the case here. So when Morgana absorbed the full power of the elder woman's attack into her being, she used it to fuel a return attack of her own that was nearly twice as strong as the barrage sent against her. The elder woman was formidable but her lack of knowledge in absorbing and redirecting Force energy was apparent as soon as Morgana saw her try to throw a barrier around herself for protection.

Mortis' concubine caught some of it but it was too weak to prevent most of it from ripping through her and burning her until the life had left her body outright. She was dead before she had even rolled to the floor and sprawled her limbs in four directions. Then, victorious, Morgana turned to the boy who had recovered from the backlash of the power outage but was significantly less powerful as a price. "Please... please d-d-don't h-hurt me," stammered the boy. At once, his savantism became apparent to Morgana, who'd only ever seen it one other time in her life but remembered the impression it left her.

Morgana brought her lightsabers into a scissoring position across his neck and prepared to make the killing blow. "If your father cared for you, he would have siphoned your full potential from the start then drowned you when you outlived your usefulness. Now you beg for mercy you do not deserve? Pathetic," Morgana said. The child made one last pitiful scream, crying just before Morgana brought her blades across his neck and decapitated him.

"Let your father hear your cries through the Force as he will never hear them in life again," she hissed. Her work there done, she deactivated her blades and commed Lord Coeus for a progress report. She left with pride when he announced that he had everything she needed to proclaim a legitimate challenge to Lord Mortis before the Council at their next meeting. Everything was proceeding as she had planned, for once.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Chapter Fourteen**

It didn't take more than a week for the Council to commence another meeting, specifically to discuss Mortis' future as a member of the Council. In the days following the death of his savant son and the boy's mother, Mortis was being chided by the Council for having used a child to prolong the inevitable decline of his strength. For them, it was a sign of weakness so pitifully obvious to even the most blind of all Sith that Mortis knew there was only one way out. Face his accuser in single combat and win, lest he be recognized as weak and his seat given to his challenger. Morgana, who had no intention of missing this chance to prove herself a stronger Sith witch than being Nox's apprentice, was early for the meeting just for that occasion.

So when Mortis saw her, he growled under his breath and approached the ring where the rest of the Council members could watch. "You're Lady Minshuto, aren't you? Nox's newest apprentice... she _would_ take you in, even for a Sith, she had a propensity for surrounding herself with psychopaths," he said.

"Do you speak so grievously of me because I killed your child? That I was even willing to kill a young, intellectually disabled child for the sake of power? The greater crime was you keeping him alive to hold onto your seat on the Dark Council as long as you could," Morgana told him. There were nods of agreement to Morgana's words from some of the other Sith, indicating a promising career ahead of her if she should kill Mortis.

Morgana decided to fight traditionally, knowing there was no way Mortis could know of her skills with a lightsaber because his consort's surveillance cameras were blinded by Lord Coeus before Morgana moved in. They were also muted so that there was no way Mortis could use the sound to detect the presence of more than one lightsaber on Morgana's part. All he had was the confirmation that Morgana had killed the consort and his child, after she completed the deed. So Morgana, knowing this started with her skills of traditional combat to start with and then call upon her second blade if Mortis proved proficient enough with the magnetism that allowed her to use saberstaff combat next. She would use the combination of saberstaff, Jar'Kai, and Force powers dead last if he proved strong enough for that to be the case.

So it was that she surprised him with a combination of an offense combination of Makashi's jabs and slices, Niman's twirls and wide arcs, Ataru's acrobatics, and Juyo's ferocity. She would defend with a perfect application of Soresu, dodging blows from his own application of Makashi, the only form capable of truly countering Soresu, with a Force Dash. Whenever he tried the strikes of Ataru or Juyo, she would defend then counter with a gainer flip from Ataru and several of Juyo's characteristically vicious yet agile slicing maneuvers. Once, she even reversed the position of her blade was supposed to adopt in the first two slices of Shii-Cho to truly throw him off balance, performing the whirling of her body that followed the second stance in his confusion.

When he tried to slice her in two from the right flank, she countered with the famous diagonal parry of Soresu, which intercepted his blade at rib cage because hers was pointed to the ground. She then yanked her blade across, forming several circles with her blade in the air while Mortis was tagged along for the ride of the first circular slice Morgana performed. Morgana then followed this with several short slashes of Juyo designed to keep Mortis on the defensive long enough to then perform a successful Pushing Slash from Niman. She followed this with a leap into the air where she spun her body in fast and wide enough circles to bring her blade to what would have been his chest if he had not rolled out of the way in time.

Rather than give him a chance to rise up, she grasped his neck with the Force and brought him to hang him in the air for his death by choking. But Mortis still had more resolution to live than she had anticipated, indicated when he shot enough Force Lightning at her to make her drop him. Morgana intercepted with the horizontal block of Soresu, making sure that the lightning was attracted to her blade by bringing to chest level in defense of herself. "You have great skill, Morgana. In your time you would have been truly one of the greatest Sith Lords that ever lived, but your luck ends today," Mortis warned her.

"Oh now, Lord Mortis, you disappoint me. For decades, the Council held you in such high esteem and reverence. Surely you can do better than you have," Morgana mocked. The remarks elicited the very reaction she was looking for and she knew she had him where she wanted him. Lightsaber skill and Force abilities were no substitute for Dun Möch and the element of deception but they were handy tools in making those things easier to perform.

The duel then continued to resume that pace but it was clear to everyone watching that Mortis would tire faster than Morgana. He wasn't in his prime, in fact, he was nearly a century old which would render any living Human decrepit, the Dark Side only a crutch for the user at that point. The fact he held anywhere near as well as he did was nothing short of remarkable since Morgana was still in her prime. But Morgana knew that if she was going to accelerate things, she was going to need to somehow strike a blow into him and soon. She could play out the game if she wished but she coveted Mortis' seat on the Council, coveted the power she would have to undermine Hyperion and draw him out for her revenge against him.

She knew just how she was going to do it too, knew how she was going to undo all he had worked to gain before his very eyes then end him slowly too. And it all started by first defeating Lord Mortis and taking his seat on the Dark Council as Darth Minshuto. So when she received her next chance to successfully perform the Pushing Slash of Niman, she added one critical variation. Rather than Force-Pushing Mortis again, she used telekinesis to shoot her other lightsaber into her other hand, pressing the ignition button when it rubbed against her thumb. The result was another crimson red blade impaling Mortis' right shoulder bone.

She quickly yanked it out, making Mortis recoil from the blow and try to ready himself with a one-handed defensive stance that held his blade's tip to the ceiling. He snarled in derision at what Morgana had done to him, the fact that he had cried out when the initial wound was made being one of the last embarrassments the Council needed to witness. In his original peak, Mortis would never have allowed an opponent to get close to him, much less wound him in lightsaber combat. Morgana switched blades to jab with and even though Mortis was able to keep up with the jabs, Morgana had him on the ropes as soon as she switched to hacks and slashes, indicating a lack of Jar'Kai understanding as she suspected. So she toyed with him with both blades, wounding him in both thighs when she saw her next opening to do so.

Then, when she knew he was learning and countering her, she introduced the last segment of possible lightsaber combat. She began twirling and slashing with the saberstaff that she was able to form from her blades, truly wearing down Mortis with the effortless toil and twirl of her blade. His eyes crossed at one point, inducing a brief head rush that kept him momentarily dazed by the ruby red lights which flashed before his horizon. When she moved in for the kill, she flanked him with each blade first then knocked the pommel of her saberstaff to his face, dazing him even longer in time for her to whirl around and gut him like a fish. She detached one half then used the free blade to stab him in the chest, reclaiming the blade still in him with her free hand then deactivating them both so that he fell over to his back from the yank of them.

Mortis took a moment then recovered, trying to crawl away only to find himself crawling towards the feet of a disenchanted Darth Nox. "I'm sorry, Mortis," she said, snapping his neck and using the very words he had used when he finished of Lord Thanaton at her inauguration.

"It seems we have been purified of another weakling, how terrifically tragic that it should be a man once venerated for being one of our strongest in history. Perhaps, there is a lesson to be learned here but for now, I believe this young lady is due her seat?" said Vowrawn. Morgana played her part beautifully, pretending to be the honored new member of the Council when it was what she had wanted all along. She thanked the members of the Council for her nomination and took her place at Mortis' seat.

"You are the head Councilman of Law and Justice. As such, you will still have access to the Sphere of Knowledge for the sake of your continued collaboration with Lady Nox. But you are ultimately answerable only to our ultimate master provided you maintain the legalities of our Order and enforce our will upon those who'd break with them," Vowrawn declared. Morgana nodded in acceptance of her position and the Council ordered for slaves to carry Mortis' body to a funeral of Sith tradition, befitting his long tenure as a member of the Council.

Meanwhile, as the Emperor's Wrath, Hyperion watched the proceedings, observed Morgana in action, and made several critical notes about her fighting style, her demeanor, and even the intelligence she had revealed on Mortis before she destroyed him. He could tell that if she became a rival of his, he would be glad he decided to curry favor with Lord Jadus. Unlike this new contender, Jadus was powerful and cunning in addition to experienced: though far from his youth, he was not necessarily out of his prime just yet. More to the point, he had set in motion the kinds of political machinations that nearly brought the Empire down to its knees then had assisted its rejuvenation following the fall of Zakuul from prominence.

For his own sake, Hyperion hoped that his alliance with Jadus would have this newby matched for brains as he could only match her in lightsaber skills, military tactics, and _perhaps_ the Force. But as she came closer to his proximity, he began to sense something... familiar about her, like he had met her years ago but couldn't remember where or when he had met her.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Chapter Fifteen**

Hyperion approached Morgana cautiously, waiting for the chatter of the Council to die down (especially where the funeral of Mortis was concerned) before he made himself known. "May I speak with the new Councilwoman for a moment? I believe that as the Emperor's Wrath it is my duty to congratulate her and confer with her on matters of relevance to us both?" Hyperion asked. The Council looked to each other and when Morgana nodded her approval, the Council adjourned to let the Wrath and "Lady Minshuto" confer in peace.

"You are acknowledged Wrath, already your reputation precedes you yet you've been only here scarcely a week more than I have. However do you do it?" Morgana asked him.

"I was trained in the ways of the Sith when I was a child and went rogue for more than a decade. So rising back up to a place of prominence once I returned wasn't difficult: rising to the prominence of Emperor's Wrath was unexpected. But I suspect that this is not the only reason you seemed interested in speaking with me," Hyperion replied. If Morgana felt chastised by the remark, she hid it rather well from his immediate sight as well as the sight of the Force. Meantime, she continued without any emotion readily visible, except perhaps for slight exertion at the task of killing Mortis.

"You're right, it isn't all that I have come with," Morgana told him promptly. Hyperion felt Crassus rising forth, as if to swat her like a gnat beneath the back of his ethereal hand. When Hyperion asked him what was with him, telepathically, Crassus startled him with the reply.

 _Doesn't she look like that woman you raped, the one called Patricia?_ Crassus asked.

 _Have you been rooting around my memories?_ Hyperion snapped.

 _Doesn't she!?_ Crassus demanded. Upon a closer glance, he realized she did and the epiphany must've been visible because Morgana worked a cunning smile on her face. The only differences Hyperion could readily perceive between this one and Patricia was that Patricia had had dirt blond hair when Hyperion forced himself on her while this one had pitch-black. Also, Patricia had had beautiful, crystal blue eyes while Morgana was plagued with heterochromia iridum: she had a brown and blue eye.

"You're realizing it, aren't you? Doubtless, you remember my sister Patricia, remember what you did to her. And how she probably mentioned having a sister named Morgana, gifted with the Force?" insisted the younger woman. Hyperion knew at once where this was going but let her speak, both to fight off Crassus' desire to rise up and to hear what she had to say.

"Before my time is done, I vow to make you suffer. I vowed to search the ends of the Unknown Regions in order to find you if that's what it took and now that I've found you? Now that I've found you, you can be sure that for what you did to my sister and victims like her, you're life is going to be a living hell for all it's remaining days. You will suffer torment after torment, you will see your power base stripped from you, and you will see all you have created here destroyed before your very eyes!

"Only when every last shred of hope has been spent and you have been thoroughly humiliated in the Force and lightsaber combat will I end your pitiful life. When my sister made contact with that hard concrete and perished, Morgana died and Darth Minshuto rose from the ash, so that is the enemy you will face from this day forward. Am I understood, Wrath?" said the woman.

"You are understood, loud and clear, Lady Minshuto. While trying to destroy me, you may call me Lord Algethiius, the name I chose for myself in honor of my homeworld. I trust this will be a fun game of lions pitting their will against one another... shall we declare a Kaggath or are you not yet ready for that?" Hyperion asked. He wasn't going to try and reason with Morgana, not when she had spent so many years chasing him across the cosmos for revenge on her sister's behalf. There wasn't anyway that he could call upon his repeated failures to kill his brother to inform her of how futile the pursuit of vengeance was if she had come this far for him.

Instead, it was far better to beat her at her intended game of choice then come to her with the revelations when she was broken. However, she surprised him with the laugh she emitted from her throat as well as her calm reply when she finished her brief laugh. "The Kaggath is a playground game, as Lord Ravage once said, murder has no rules. Still, I find merit in entertaining my prey before I kill them and the Kaggath is as entertaining as it gets when my prey is you.

"I will size you up, learn the extent of the power base you've established here, then systematically sweep you away with all I have as a member of the Dark Council in a formal declaration of the Kaggath. I am waiting and, when I am ready, you will know and you will suffer," Morgana promised.

"Then we are agreed that we are enemies when we have nothing of legality or enforcement to discuss. And since I foresee no such things happening in the future, given your department is more civilian in nature while my work is more military, there is no further point to this discussion until one of us is near defeat. Is there?" Hyperion asked, at which point Morgana turned and left without another word.

Hyperion agreed with Crassus on what his grandfather said next: this woman was dangerous and she wouldn't simply state her intentions to Hyperion unless she was confident she could still outwit, ambush, and destroy him in Sith tradition. A cunning soul such as her seldom made mistakes like that when their goal seemed intangible, only to surrender to indulgent egotism at the final moment. And with the trappings of a Dark Council member, taking all Mortis' limited resources and half of Nox's in forming her seat, she was more dangerous than ever before. She could attack him physically, politically, emotionally, and mentally, composing assassinations that would test Hyperion's every nerve and resolution to survive.

But as the Emperor's Wrath, Hyperion was not entirely helpless himself. The bill that allowed him, the Voice, and the Hands to be independent of the Emperor's bidding if challenged to a Kaggath also allowed for the Wrath, Voice, and the Hands to exercise self-sufficiency if they were challenged. More, their portions of resources would be similar to those of the Dark Council (if not slightly greater in quantity for positions like the Voice and the Wrath). This meant that if Jadus trained Hyperion in more complex military and political maneuverings in the time it took Lady Minshuto to declare her challenge, he would be ready for her without forfeiting the contest.

It would just be a matter of avoiding the usage of Jadus as a resource once the Kaggath started, if Hyperion wanted the best chance of winning. He would have to talk with the Voice of the Emperor, perhaps even join his pupils in the classes Jadus would be hosting for them in his new position. Perhaps even declare that if Jadus did this for him, any debts he felt he owed Hyperion for helping him get the position would be absolved if Jadus felt he had any. After all, Morgana was expecting Hyperion to be arrogant, self-absorbed, and self-obsessed, unwilling to acquisition help if the fact she only knew him through her dead sister was indication. _You think on how the sister has limited Morgana's perception of you yet you show remorse for what you did?_ Crassus inquired, sensing his sentiments.

 _I am neither proud of the deed nor do I relive any pleasure from the act of sexual gratification I had obtained in taking her. That was a different man who raped Patricia and as long as Morgana thinks that man hasn't changed, even though he has, we will have an edge over her. So forgive me for putting on only a sophisticated facade of remorselessness that she wanted to buy rather than be truthful with her from the start. Was I not that unreasonable when I was consumed by vengeance for the embarrassments Dantius let me endure after my imprisonment at his hand? Vengeance is a sucker's game even when the odds are stacked in that sucker's favor and Lady Minshuto has yet to learn that_ Hyperion said.

 _You know the name she was given at birth, why do you call her by her Sith name?_ Crassus demanded.

 _Because we are Sith, through and through. We're treacherous, cunning, we're rivals who want each other dead, and we each have subordinates beneath us as a result of our unassailable strengths. More, we rely on the heat of our passions and emotions when we fight, letting it fuel our connection to the Force so that we may break down all that stand in our way. How are we not Sith in our public expressions, whether or not we act that way privately?_ Hyperion snapped back.

 _You will need the kinds of fleets that Jadus used when attempting to induce his vision of pure terror across the galaxy. Those among your Sith who are stealthy, slippery as a snake, and patient will be your best allies in gathering intel on this new woman. The Juggernauts in your crew will be good for destroying the greatest number of her soldiers that can be destroyed in a single joust so that you lessen your own casualties. You will also need more rapid firing technology so that even when you trade destructive capacity before bolt, you can shower enough on her to compensate_ Crassus began.

"At the moment, I don't need the full list, grandfather. Plus I think I know where I can acquire some of that muscle already, killing two or three birds with one stone in a given time. A way to prove to the Emperor that my training regimen benefited his sons, give them a chance to show their worth in combat, and weaken Morgana's power base," Hyperion replied, thinking carefully now.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen**

The next several weeks in the Sith's improvised Academy went quietly unabated as Hyperion continued to train the Emperor's sons in the ways of the Sith. Since Jadus' nomination to the position of Emperor's Voice, Lord Verrin had become relatively reclusive. Comparable to Lord Vitiate in this regard, the Dark Council already began to grow suspicious of Jadus' declarations. So when Jadus suggested that the Emperor send out written memos of what Lord Jadus was allowed to discuss before them, Verrin reluctantly agreed. Though it meant more time out of a schedule that included regulating the training of his sons, it seemed to temporarily pacify the ambitions of the Dark Council members more eager to make a mark.

Ladies Minshuto (Morgana's new name) and Nox were the most ambitious along with the Pau'an Sith Lord Imperius. But elder, more conservative Sith Lords like Ravage and Vowrawn curbed their tastes for greater power until an opportunity to win with impunity came to them. They'd survived Vitiate, Malgus, Trajan, Cideon, Marr, Acina, and the Eternal Alliance without being killed which taught them more than a few things in patience. Meanwhile, Nox and Minshuto began to plot even as Hyperion trained the heirs to Emperor Verrin in their heritage.

"Were you born a big fat pile of poodoo, Prince Blob? Or did you have to kriffing work on it?" Hyperion said at one point in the training. They were learning not simply the lightsaber basics with training blades, already covered at the Academy but working on specific styles. He had names for all the princes, names meant to degrade and antagonize them so that they learned how to use their hatred and vengeance as a weapon of greater power. The big one he was speaking to was Prince Blob as he was more fat than muscle as well as about two meters even in height.

He also had Prince Jester, Prince Small-Fry, Prince Glass (because of his fragile ego), Prince Bantha (for his slow pace), Prince Dandy (for his dresses), Prince Slinky (for his stealth), and Prince Blind (he didn't seem to see what he was doing). Today, Prince Blob had made a mistake in his Form V usage, the only form he seemed to be capable of doing right, that he wanted the kid to correct. "Don't throw your kriffing blade out so far unless you wanna kriffing die before you even get a strike in you piece of bantha fodder!" Hyperion shouted to him. Earlier, he'd taunted him for not being able to "give him one pull-up" earlier which had been fascinating because Prince Small-Fry, Slinky, and Glass seemed to give him what he needed. Slinky and Small-Fry tried the hardest to please him which, consequently, meant they learned more from him.

Slinky seemed to be an expert at Soresu, Makashi, Niman, and Jar'Kai with saberstaff and pike. Meanwhile, Small-Fry seemed a master of Juyo, Ataru, and Shien with expertise in Soresu and saberstaff. He'd even worked on a variant of Soresu that was plausible with short-bladed saberstaffs and was particular to his height and skills. When they trained in Force powers, Slinky displayed an aptitude for stealth abilities such as camouflage, Force Concealment, and even learned how to cast minor illusions. Small-Fry was a master of Force Lightning and Choke (which he tested against several slaves) and held the potential to master several minor, if arcane powers.

Blob, on the other hand, would be a Berserker if he had just understood the intent of Hyperion's mocking and verbal torments. He seemed too simple to comprehend the ways of the Sith, not unlike Menelaus, yet another one of Verrin's children. But this day, Blob seemed to finally registered and performed a successful Falling Avalanche. "Finally! That's what I'm talking about, Blob: keep that up or are you too much of a piece of fodder?!" Hyperion replied.

Hyperion smiled when Blob kept at it, _finally_ seeming to grasp what it was that he was teaching him. Blob, Blind, Bantha, and Glass were easily the worst four of the eight while Small-Fry, Slinky, Dandy, and Jester were easily the best in that order. Slinky and Small-Fry took turns being the best on certain days, especially where the powers of the Force itself were concerned. In the peak of the Empire, they would've made for great Sith Inquisitors with Blob and similar brothers perhaps making for great Warriors.

But as it was, Hyperion didn't think there was all that much time left for them or for the Empire, his infiltration and intended betrayal notwithstanding. Even if he hadn't come to serve as a double-agent, with authorization to act like a Sith in his role, he suspected that their discovery on Dathomir was only the beginning of what would've come anyway. Odds were that if not for his role, it would've only taken about a century at the very most before the Jedi would've routed them out and destroyed them. Inoy's discovery was the catalyst to something Hyperion only accelerated but couldn't have been responsible for if he had said no to his brother's offer.

And it didn't help that Hyperion was demonizing the Republic so effectively that every single prince of Verrin's bloodline would likely be killed if ever faced a Jedi Knight like Inoy or Dantius. Slinky and Small-Fry already wanted to pit themselves against the likes of them but there was one slight problem with their calculations of prowess. If they couldn't beat their own teacher, as Hyperion pointed out after training spars frequently, then they would stand no chance against a Jedi Knight as highly trained as Dantius, Inoy or any of their friends. Worst of all, Hyperion never needed to use his lightsaber in order to beat them, he just needed one of the training blades they used to that end. He appreciated their ambition and sometimes thought they tested themselves against him like that to make sure he was still was the superior.

But his happiness at their success would come to an end, every time he found Lady Minshuto watching him at work. One such visit left him particularly agitated and when a student noticed her, acknowledging as much verbally, Hyperion briefly wondered about sending them against her. But there were several problems, not the least of which would be that because their training wasn't complete, she could either kill them or humiliate them thoroughly. If the latter, she could then brainwash them against him, telling him the story of what he did to her sister so that they could be incited to take revenge on her behalf. There were too many ways that could go wrong even if he knew he would like someone who could act on his behalf to keep Morgana on her toes.

Vowrawn must have sensed his agitation at Morgana's operations because he approached Hyperion after training one day with a proposition. "Morgana is moving in on my operations as well, perhaps hoping to undermine me with the resources that were dispersed among us after Jadus' nomination. Seeing as I already have more than I ever need, how would you like my portion of Jadus' former resources under your thumb?" Vowrawn suggested.

"Why do you advocate for me as heavily as you do? I haven't been in the Sith nearly as long as any of your colleagues yet you show more respect to me than you do them," Hyperion asked.

"Because you are more the model Sith in your intentions for the Empire than any of them. Verrin and my colleagues would keep the status quo if it were up to them but you recognize the need for dynamic change and radical reform in the Empire. Had we been introduced to you when Lord Malgus laid claim to the Emperor's throne, we would've had the kind of reforms he sought to introduce with someone to temper his appetites for power. So, I ask again, does my offer interest you?" Vowrawn explained. Hyperion thought carefully, trying to assess what the slippery Lord Vowrawn had to gain from making that kind of offer to him.

 _He is tricky but he has a point: simply being the Emperor's Wrath doesn't guarantee you a fleet or legions to command unless you take it for yourself. We will need the resources he is offering if we are to stand against Morgana in a Kaggath, you know. This man is offering the kind of forces he doesn't need to defend himself but you have the chance to revolutionize the forces he gives you for the purposes of destroying her_ Crassus persuaded her. Hyperion ultimately nodded and accepted Vowrawn's offer but added a stipulation of his own.

"I will accept your offer provided I see the total number of ships, weapons, soldiers, and other supplies I'd be getting _before_ you send them to my command. If I am not allowed to see the kinds of firepower I can expect, then we will have no bargain," Hyperion warned him. Vowrawn nodded his agreement and gestured for him to follow him to a place where they knew they would have privacy as Vowrawn went over the schematics Hyperion would have. He provided hologram after hologram of capital dreadnaughts, starfighters known for their maneuverability, and blaster rifles known for their fast reload and rapid fire times. Hyperion was even showed shields that the warriors of Zakuul wielded in the height of their success.

Even better than that, there were droid warriors who wielded both the shields and some of the best rifles after be criminalized by Republic law. Slugthrowers, rapid fire rifles, and even some pistols which were made illegal could be seen in these droids hands. More, they had jets attached to their backs and feet that could accelerate how rapidly they reached a destination. They could even collapse their heads into the chest and see through an eye their shield came built with, connecting to it once their heads were in their chest. In all, even Crassus was pleased with what Vowrawn was offering and combined with Hyperion's tactical training they could be formidable indeed.

"Lord Vowrawn, I accept your offer, if somewhat reluctantly. Morgana won't know what hit her if she thinks to cross me again," Hyperion said. Least, he hoped that was the case now.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Chapter Seventeen**

With a power base he could use in a Kaggath, Hyperion seemed to be a little more eased even as Lady Minshuto continued her visits. But he still hadn't done what would truly put him at ease: tell Dantius that Morgana had finally found him. He knew that if there was a file on Morgana in Republic Space, perhaps Dantius could get to work on undermining her connections there. If challenged to a Kaggath, dealing with Morgana's Republic connections (thus ensuring she couldn't return to Republic Space without being arrested) would give him an edge. But dealing with them directly would mean leaving Balmora for more time than Verrin would've permitted even for a long-term mission.

On the other hand, Dantius' title of Jedi Investigator allowed him virtually all the time he needed to rout out Morgana's Republic connections. If he could do that and perhaps even siphon off funding from Morgana's connections to the Sith Empire, he could begin his first true damages upon the Sith. He was already making good progress with the princes and had succeeded in minor military missions but the rewards would be further down the line. Dantius' surgery of Morgana's alliances in his portion of the galaxy would be both immediate and noticeable. For all he knew, the sudden depletion of funds could both force Morgana's hand in challenging him _and_ reveal her treachery against the Empire as a whole.

If the latter, she would be forced to challenge him in order to avenge her honor and even then would only begin to do so if she destroyed him. Either way, it seemed it was the best chance to outsmart her and with good reason too. Through his blood relation to Dantius, he had access to a number of connections from the military and the Jedi Order. But none of them had the kind of financial influence and administrative power that Morgana was likely to have gathered in her search for him. So when he next could, he escaped the military complex to make his next communication with Dantius.

"You're late, brother," Dantius replied.

"Greetings to you too, ass. Be glad I can communicate at all," Hyperion began. Dantius bit back whatever he seemed keen on saying and breathed a heavy sigh to let himself calm. When he did, Hyperion continued by saying, "Training is going well, I'm making hardened but unprepared warriors the Jedi can take out even with Lord Jadus training them as well. He was made the Emperor's Voice in a bid from me to convince the Emperor of necessary political reform the Sith need but don't worry: it's all part of the act so I can give you more info."

"You're playing a dangerous game by persuading them to pass reforms. Does your position as the Wrath afford you access to whatever the Voice has?" Dantius asked.

"It does, I'm sending the intel I have with the next delivery droid to go to the Dantooine Jedi Temple. The package will be under your name and you can take the info to your contacts in the military. But... something else has come up, something that I may not be able to control yet could threaten the galaxy if ever it came loose," Hyperion said.

"What have you done?" Dantius demanded.

"First off, it's not anything I've done here. Not now, anyway. Remember when Patricia mentioned a sister, said she had an older twin training with a Bith Force-sensitive?" Hyperion begaan.

"Yeah, Morgana I think was her name. She liquidated all assets belonging to Brilliante Industries to pay her parents' debts and make off with billions of credits when they died. Why?" he replied.

"Because she's here on Balmorra. She challenged Councilman Mortis to a fight and killed him, taking his seat on the Dark Council under the name Darth Minshuto. After I came up to congratulate her, she revealed herself to me and vowed that she would destroy me when the time was right. My suspicion is that she will challenge me to a Kaggath and formally pit her resources into my destruction, helping spiral the Empire into further anarchy in the wake of her revenge. The difference between her and the other Councilmen is that she's got connections that can spirit her away from Balmorra if things go south where they would be arrested upon fleeing, maybe killed," Hyperion explained.

Dantius nodded, understanding increasing in his eyes before he finally asked the question Hyperion was hoping he'd ask. "If you like, I'll see what I can do about cutting Morgana's ties to the Republic here. Make sure that if and when a Kaggath is finished between you two, she has nowhere to run but into your blade," Dantius offered. Hyperion nodded his acceptance, knowing his brother was his only chance of truly defeating Morgana now. "I'll see what I can dredge up though I make no promises: I'll see what I can do about having my contacts in Republic Police dig up the dirt and have those connections silenced so I don't leave you hanging," Dantius added.

"There's something else, something even worse than Morgana I think I need to tell you," Hyperion admitted. Crassus, whose presence was slumbering within Hyperion, awoke at the mention of something worse than Morgana haunting him. The older spectre knew exactly where this was going as soon as he registered the words and considered stifling Hyperion's admittance. But he was more interested in hearing Dantius' reaction to the news than he was in the ways he could painfully stop Hyperion from telling him. "I think Grandpa Crassus has returned," Hyperion told his brother.

"Impossible, he tried to perform essence transfer on our cousin and failed. There is no coming back from that," Dantius said.

"Not generally, you're right. But Crassus planted seeds of his power within both of us, in your case what little Light Side essence he had left. In my case, he planted enough of his dark power to act as a beacon if he were ever obliterated by our cousin. I can feel him feeding on the darkness in this place which may be why the pull of the Dark Side isn't as strong on me: he's feeding on it to revive himself," Hyperion replied. Dantius mulled it over, stroking his bearded chin at the thought that Crassus could have yet again cheated death.

"The prophecy did say our cousin would destroy him but it didn't say anything about Crassus coming back from it. It also didn't say that Crassus wouldn't find a way to survive even a failed attempt at essence transfer. How strong is he at the moment?" Dantius asked.

"Enough to boost my prowess imperceptibly. Make me strong enough to overcome the best on the Dark Council if I truly need it to happen. But not so strong he can afford to possess me, after what our cousin did he's too cautious to strike just yet," Hyperion said.

 _Coward, you fear possession by my hand when there are strong bodies that I could take for myself. You are unchanged in fearing me, Hyperion_ Crassus sneered through telepathy. Hyperion then winced and noted to Dantius that he could telepathically communicate with their grandfather whilst he remained trapped in Hyperion's body.

"Keep him there as long as you can then give him a body that can be defeated. Deceive him into believing you have given him a body of power lest he not make his move," Dantius said.

"Don't you worry, I already have a sacrifice in mind, should Morgana make her move. Someone who looks keen to please her but is not directly infatuated with her. He's also a member of the Dark Council but offers a prize in power and longevity that Grandfather won't be able to avoid trying to grasp," Hyperion told him. Crassus made to ask who could be such a prize then Hyperion mentioned Lord Imperius telepathically. The disembodied spirit was left to think of that while Dantius continued to speak.

"Once he's selected a body and taken it over, he'll be vulnerable to death again. If he fails, he'll be obliterated once more and this time, it'll be for good. Keep me in the loop about what you decide to do with the spectre of our grandfather as well as the rivals you have in the Sith. If you can kill three birds with one stone, you'll be able to do some serious damage to the Empire's resolve and its plans for the galaxy. When I receive the intel that you've promised, my council and I will decide whether or not the time has come to begin planning an assault on the Sith, meantime, keep up the work and inform me at once if anything happens," Dantius told him.

"I will do my best but be warned that I may not be heard from for sometime if Morgana directly challenges me to the Kaggath. No worries, I'll make sure that there's plenty of collateral damage to go around for the Empire and forestall their plans. When Jadus was made the Voice of the Emperor, his old resources were given originally to the Dark Council but Vowrawn gave his portion to me. Something tells me that the old man stands to gain something from watching our rivalry come to its conclusion though what it could be I don't know," Hyperion said.

"Vowrawn is slippery as they come and powerful in the Force," Dantius admitted, "keep an eye on him and his motives. Perhaps it would be wise to consider giving him to our grandfather if you get my meaning." They both chuckled at the idea even as they knew Crassus would never go for it and with good reason too as soon as Dantius cut transmission. Vowrawn was old for a Sith Pureblood and had likely only managed to stay alive due to a combination of cunning and dark rituals.

But in truth, Vowrawn wouldn't have long to live even with the rituals without some sort of long lasting secret. In any case, he wasn't the kind of viable candidate that a fifty-year-old Pau'an would be with six centuries or more of life to go thanks to his biology. More, Imperius could grow even stronger, a considerable thought that made Hyperion and Crassus both smile widely.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Chapter Eighteen**

Dantius' latest transmission was a bit troubling for the council he answered to in this mission. "Hyperion has a couple of rivals on the Dark Council who may yet aid us in reducing the Sith to half the size they currently possess before we attack. Unfortunately, there's every risk that even if this happens, we could lose our eyes and ears within the Empire," he explained. The older man to whom he spoke contemplated the situation before him.

What Hyperion didn't know about Dantius' affiliations was that he was part of a classified sect of Jedi known as the Sentience. Developed by Sentinels to coordinate their activities, it had started out as a way Investigators like Dantius could compile data to be turned over to the Jedi Council for further deliberation without the main Order knowing. Under the leadership of Dantius' superiors, it became a way for all Sentinels to compile information for the Council to use in its deliberation about threats of corruption and the Dark Side. Now that they knew the Sith Empire had returned, thanks to Inoy's accidental discovery sparked by Hyperion's request, the Sentience was interested in undoing the Sith wherever and however possible. So when Morgana was mentioned as having possible connections in the Republic meant that the Sith might have connections as well.

In the end, Dantius' superior in the Sentience had to agree as much, making a decision that would be putting the Sentience at risk of discovery. "We'll have our spies look for systems where Morgana had connections and research any history they may have with the Empire. Our deductions will remove such people as threats whether through evidence or by eliminating them as a threat if necessary. We'll go from there to identify individuals who had benefited from connections on both sides to see if they're still sinking any funding into the Empire. Legally, the Jedi Order cannot enter anywhere without a warrant but we have a few connections who are as off the books as Hyperion," said his commander.

"As you wish, Commander. Should I set the Blank Slate Contingency in motion?" Dantius asked. The Blank Slate Contingency was a plan by the Sentience which would allow members full authorization to clear out any and all potential connections to the Sith in Republic Space. Some, especially those who were officially stationed in Hutt Space and what had been neutral systems in the war could do what planetary law allowed them to aid the Contingency. So when Dantius asked if he should initiate them, his superiors were being asked if they wanted to cause such destruction across the galaxy, beings would think the Sith had returned.

But the Sentience was nothing if not anonymous and built to stop the Sith even if that meant breaking some of the conventions of the Order they swore to serve. When Dantius' superior finally made his decision, he ultimately nodded then added, "I will have the others assembled for carbon freezing. Once frozen, you will awaken us in the event that there is any sign of corruption in the Republic once again, after the Sentience has completed its part. If you can, see to it that your brother is extracted safely from Imperial clutches once he has completed his part for us."

"And if he asks for payment?" Dantius asked.

"Unless he has committed the kind of atrocities that endanger important Republic systems, give him what he was promised in full. Meantime, once he is extracted, offer him the chance to join the Sentience has an independently contracted hired hand. The strings we can pull may clear his record but he doubtless still has debts he needs to honor to financial tycoons who would see it paid as soon as possible," his superior answered. Dantius bowed and informed him that he would tell the others to begin initiating the Blank Slate Contingency. For fifteen years, the Sentience had been building up for this moment, born out of a need to continue to root out the Dark Side without dropping the veil of the war's end to the greater galaxy.

Now, they were going to be told to do everything they could to find and cut down the Sith's intergalactic connections to size before a military campaign against their last worlds. "And Dantius?" his superior asked.

"Yes Master?"

"Inform Inoy to have a fleet ready on standby once Hyperion's intel has been successfully delivered. If the Sith get any worse or make desperate power grabs before or after that intel arrives, you know what to do. We have both worlds locked in our sights and we will see to it that the Sith threat is forever stamped out," said the leader of the Sentience.

"I agree, Master. Ever since you trained me as a Padawan, we have been working towards this end. Now, we may yet actually get to see it commence," Dantius replied. Master Mathes Colunga, once the proud co-founder of the Confederacy of Neutral Systems, smiled his and nodded. Thought dead by the Republic and virtually everyone he knew, thanks to wearing his mask when he "died", he would not be recognized by anyone who didn't know him.

In return for a pardon on his defection, along with that of survivors like Dantius, Mathes was allowed to create the Sentience for Sentinels and castoffs like him. It gave them a chance to do the things that would never be allowed or expected of a Jedi Guardian or Consular in the Temples of the Order. And after fifteen years of building the network, establishing contracts with people like Hyperion, and investigating potential Sith connections, they were about to strike at last.

The difference between these people and the mainstream Jedi Order? They didn't always have to abide by Republic law, Senatorial decree, and were answerable only to the Chancellor. In fact, they were off the books precisely because they were a military force and the Chancellor's strongest suit of authority lied in that department. As Mathes made the preparations for carbon freezing with the rest of the Council, Dantius commed every member of the Sentience then said, "This is Dantius Octavian, Senior Jedi Master of the Sentience, initiate the Blank Slate Contingency, authorization: Caius-20716-XL341."

Then he commed the Chancellor, notifying her that the Sentience had decided to initiate the Blank Slate Contingency. This, Dantius knew, would be a day long remembered by the members of this wonderful organization. It'd seen the fall of the Empire, it hoped to soon see the end of the Dark Side itself. And it tickled him to know Crassus survived to see it become reality.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Chapter Nineteen**

Hyperion realized that even if his intel made it to Dantius in time, he might still have to make his move and soon. The sons of Verrin were almost as trained as they could be before further testing, whether abroad or on Balmorra, had to be done without him. They would need to complete missions to prove their worth, most of all once Jadus was through with them. Which only left talking to him about what missions they should undertake in order to test their worth as Emperor's Hands. They ultimately agreed on missions that would test their ability to perform stealth tasks including deception, misdirection campaigns, and test their ability to save themselves if they were rooted out as liars by the likes of the Jedi.

Hyperion had taught them how to fight Force-sensitives and other enemies such as Mandalorians and other raises known to best Forceful warriors in the past. But Jadus was teaching them the skills they hoped would help them avoid the need for such confrontations in their jobs as the Emperor's eyes and ears wherever they went. They were getting the most well-rounded Sith training that any acolyte could ask for and yet they still harbored resentments toward each other. The most likely reason was because Prince Blob had been discovered with an imported sugar treat in his foot locker, an idea on Hyperion's end to make them grateful for whatever gains they made even if they were born royalty.

When Hyperion had found the sugar roll, he had reminded Prince Blob that he was a filthy disgusting pig then turned on his brothers. "Prince Blob has disgraced his bloodline and he has disgraced all of you," he had begun. The princes said nothing and stood at attention as he added, "I have tried to teach him and I have failed. I have failed because you people have not given Blob the proper motivation to see past his weaknesses and embrace the Dark Side rather than running from it! So from now on, whenever Prince Blob screws up, I will _not_ punish him: I will punish each and every one of _you_!

"And where I stand, ladies, you owe me for one imported sugar roll. Now drop and give me one hundred on your knuckles, you paid for it Prince Blob, _you_ eat it! They will suffer for your lack of vision while you bask in luxury!" Then Hyperion had stuffed the roll into Blob's so that he could eat, tears rolling down the bigger Zabrak's eyes as his brothers paid the price of his gluttony. Later that night, they had tortured him with a combination of heavy rocks they'd stuffed in their socks, Force Lightning, and various Force Chokes as well as pommeling him.

The Zabrak species' natural resistance to pain meant that Prince Blob survived it all but suffered emotional scars and physical marks. Hyperion had seen them the next day and much as he may have sympathized with Prince Blob, he never let up his verdict. Each and every time that Prince Blob made a mistake, it was tallied and at the end of the day, his brothers paid the penance while he watched. With each time that the brothers saw him basking in comparative luxury, regardless of Prince Blob's distaste for it, they tortured him more and more. Then, after three months of this gruesome behavior, Prince Blob finally killed one of his brothers.

Since his victim had been Prince Bantha, the murder might not have intimidated the others if not for the violent way in which Bantha had met his end. According to the brothers that almost witnessed it, Prince Bantha had decided to continue the teasing and torturing already begun by their siblings during the day when Hyperion had called another tally. This was keeping in mind that the others still had to pay for their mistakes in addition to paying for Blob's in each tally. When the torture became too much, Prince Blob finally snapped and tore his brother's arms off even as he was being barraged with bolts of Force Lightning. The feat of physically ripping his brother's limbs had been unimaginable enough but when Hyperion learned he'd charged through enough Force Lightning to knock down a Jedi Knight, he knew he'd finally reached him.

In addition to tearing off his brother's arms, Prince Blob had Force pushed him against a granite wall then slid him across it to somewhat skin his back. He'd concluded the assault by beating the remaining life out of Prince Bantha even as the man had tried to defend himself. Prince Slinky had been the one who reported the incident to Hyperion in the aftermath of its finish and Princes Dandy and Glass had been the first to see the end results. From what they had seen, Prince Blob had finished off his brother by slamming his forehead into a toilet bowl hard enough to break the bowl in half as well as the kid's skull. After that, Prince Blob started becoming one of the best pupils that Hyperion had trained according to the Sith ways.

He was finally becoming the Sith Berserker that Hyperion had seen in him all along, with some saying he could be in line to replace Hyperion as the Emperor's Wrath if need be. Two more died from the physical exertion of training followed, Prince Blind and Prince Dandy being the two. This left just Blob, Small-Fry, Jester, Slinky, and Glass with Glass having the most trouble keeping up while Blob now had the least. Small-Fry and Slinky, who had previously been Hyperion's two best, now put their efforts towards getting their rightful place back from Blob. On the one hand, Hyperion was proud that one of his densest students was finally getting the hints and the others were finally dead but on the other?

He knew he was creating vicious hyenas out of Blob's brothers with Small-Fry and Slinky both possessing the ability and the cunning to do him in if they felt it fit. Hyperion could see the glisten in their eyes as they bided their time for the perfect chance to strike him down. Blob, however, seemed either to not notice or care which unsettled Hyperion even if he knew it was all part of the training. If Blob wasn't careful, the jealous brothers would carry out a plot from which Blob could never recover. He wasn't sure if he wanted Blob to win or for Small-Fry and Slinky to reclaim their spot as the top dogs of Hyperion's decreasing list.

Hyperion was even considering giving them a chance to prove their worth to him through combat and missions that would allow them to test their skills. If he went with any kind of testing for them, he would have to give them missions first then test each other in combat when they returned. So it was that he decided to speak with Jadus of critical importance that their pupils could complete. Missions that would advance the Sith imperative without placing them at unrealistic risk in addition to (for Hyperion's Republic mission) not accelerating their return to prominence. By now, the intel he sent Dantius should be arriving to Dantooine any day now and fortunately, the differences between what he sent and what he was now seeing were largely miniscule. too small to be relevant to the Jedi Order and the Republic.

So when Jadus pointed out the missions he believed could be completed by the princes, Hyperion thought carefully. One of them was a mission to go to Mandalore and start assassinating chief leaders so that Mandalore could remain divided long enough for the Mask to return to someone the Sith trusted. This one would probably be entrusted to Slinky who was the most cunning and the most obvious candidate for the mission. Another mission, that Small-Fry could perform, involved infiltrating Kuat Shipyards and programming certain modules of droid to sabotage Republic machinations. Yet another, that Blob could perform, was to sabotage operations among the Republic Ministry of Defense which risked the revelation of the Sith's return.

The fourth mission, within the ability of Glass, would require the death of various traitors who deserted the Empire before its fall from prominence. That left only Jester, whose mission it would be to seek out those who were still loyal to the Empire and persuade them to begin diverting funds to a renewed war effort wherever they could. For all his humor during the early stages of training, his jests had revealed a capable manipulator who could toy with the ambitions and inhibitions of more corrupt beings. In the hopes of countering each mission and making sure it ended failure (though not kill the boys) Hyperion sent Dantius holovids of each of them in action, this way they could be caught and forced to retreat. If they somehow succeeded even with the deck stacked against them, then they would prove themselves to be truly fearsome and Hyperion wasn't a traitor to the Republic.

So far, he was impressed by a couple of things. First was that Jadus had not come forth to accuse him of double-crossing the Empire. Was the Voice simply biding his time until he could visibly prove Hyperion a traitor? Or did he know of Hyperion's treachery and have some twisted use for it in his plans for the throne?

At any rate, the second thing that surprised him was that the Emperor still had not yet hinted any suspicions of his Wrath's true colors. Was the training of his sons what had convinced him that Hyperion was somehow on his side or was he also keeping it to himself? Was he waiting for Hyperion to make some irreversible mistake that revealed his true allegiance before striking him down? Those questions would linger along with questions about Lord Jadus, who he feared more than he feared the Emperor.

The last thing he was surprised by was that Morgana had not yet called a Kaggath upon him. Was she biding her time until she knew she could win with the resources she had or was she working on a more sinister way to defeat him? Such questions annoyed and bit at him like snappy dogs waiting for food from a stingy owner that was feasting before his eyes. He knew that the only way he was going to find out the answer was when they inevitably made their power plays. And that was the one part, if anything, that he didn't like about being part of the Sith Empire. Or being Sith at all for that matter, even as Lord Crassus continued to heap praise upon his successes, saying he was becoming more and more the model Sith every day.


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Chapter Twenty**

Morgana decided that Hyperion had lived in luxury long enough and that the time had come to make her move. But she could never hope to gain the throne of the Emperor until she had eliminated him then staked a reason she should have it. So it was that she gathered the Devils of Mustafar for one last job: eliminate the Emperor so that she could challenge Hyperion then use his death to catapult her career to the pinnacle of the Sith world. If Verrin fell to mercenaries, he didn't deserve his throne anyway and his bloodline would have to be decimated. In all, there were over a hundred mercenaries with slugthrower rifles and pistols in addition to missiles, jetpacks, shields, and harnesses along with poison darts and infrared scopes.

If they were swept aside from existence by the Emperor's power then they were unworthy of their repute and he had earned his seat fairly. Morgana would also have to think about the best time for the mercenaries to make their move then it hit her. The jubilee celebrating his seventeenth year on the throne was at hand in a couple standard weeks. In addition to the more lackluster military guard, the Emperor would be emerging then to celebrate the reforms he had approved for the Empire. To destroy him outright would be one thing at any other occasion but to thoroughly humiliate and defeat him on the day of celebration for his reign?

It would not only justify Verrin's destruction and attempts to destroy his heirs that would surely follow but since Hyperion was there, it would also question his strength. If he failed to save his lord and master then Morgana had legitimate grounds on which to challenge him to a Kaggath in addition to the insult he'd done her family. But she needed a way she could deal with the Emperor's sons separately: if they came back from the missions Hyperion sent them on in one piece, they would be entitled to resources equivalent to being on the Dark Council. It was a decision that the Council, the Emperor, and Hyperion had almost unanimously agreed upon for the boys provided that the resources were inferior to what was commanded by their voters. The boys agreed to be given the resources of Darths who had not yet made it to the Council, the next highest honor they could expect to achieve provided they didn't pass their final tests.

Quantitatively, this wasn't much individually but could combine to overwhelm Morgana. So she reached out to the one person who shared her visions of destroying Verrin and Hyperion, if for his own egotistical reasons. Lord Imperius of Utapau agreed with Morgana that Verrin had become soft to let Hyperion order in reforms the Empire needed. More, he commanded one of the largest portions of resources after Vowrawn and Ravage. Easily enough to contend with all five of Verrin's sons if he declared a formal Kaggath against the boys after they completed their missions especially true if none of them were strategically inclined.

So once Verrin was removed from power, Morgana and Imperius made an agreement: Morgana would challenge Hyperion to a Kaggath while Imperius challenged the Emperor's sons. Imperius would declare his Kaggath on the grounds of demanding proof that Verrin's bloodline had not grown weaker than even Verrin himself. Morgana would challenge Hyperion on the grounds that he had abused his powers as the Wrath and influenced the Emperor to his doom. If Verrin successfully repelled the mercenaries, especially without aid, they would bide their time and wait for another opportunity having officially sized him up now. So it was that they made all the necessary preparations that needed making in order to set the trap for Verrin.

Firstly, the Devils of Mustafar would be given the invitation to join the jubilee as Morgana's paid addition to Imperial Guard. Next, they would use the poison darts, thermal detonators, and EMPs to get past the inferior security detail without Verrin being able to stop them. After that, Hyperion would be separated from the Emperor to take care of a false lead on a Jedi infiltrator. From there, when Hyperion was out of the way, the remaining Imperial Guards would be killed off and the mercenaries would make their move against the Emperor. They both knew that Verrin was no alchemist, no sorcerer, but he would still be extremely powerful all the same.

His weakness, however, was the fact that any complex powers he knew would require time to concentrate on and from there would weaken him. If he could be persuaded to use one of those powers then he would be too vulnerable to prevent himself from being killed by one of them. However, if he reserved them and instead used more battleworthy powers, he could still be wounded enough for a well-placed sniper to finish them off. That was where a sniper she hired in Hutt Space would finish the job if it was needed and the man would be paid either way. They managed to get the necessary details taken care of within the week before the jubilation ceremony was supposed to begin.

The Devils were not named as Devils of Mustafar but were instead named as a mercenary security detail that was brutal in the effort to excise any threat. A hundred and twenty bodies were available from the Devils, fifteen from the Imperial Guards, and twenty-five Mark I war droids. The Devils were staged in the perfect position to place grenades into the bodies of the war droids when the time came. There were fifteen more who could shoot the poison darts into as many guards as possible before then using flamethrowers to throw them off then blast them. Once they had dealt with the Guards, they would then attack the Emperor and see what could be done about destroying him while Hyperion was kept out of the fight along with the Voice.

Jadus would be coordinating the motions of the celebration and would be teleporting to and fro in order to perform his necessary functions. As such, he could be forced to stay out of the fight in order to make sure that the Emperor was able to prove how omnipotent he really was. Jadus would also see this as a chance to make a potential grab for the throne as well while Verrin was distracted. It would be the perfect opportunity and if Jadus challenged a weakened Verrin to a Kaggath than neither would be allowed to utilize their resources as they were too closely intertwined. There were too many rivals and not enough certainties though the ones that lingered were the ones that counted.

For example, if Morgana released allegations and counter allegations by various members, she could count on the others being distracted with their petty rivalries. It risked bringing the entire Empire down but as long as they restricted the fighting to each other, they could be replaced. More, they couldn't afford to waste more than lightsaber duels on one another as long as no Emperor was declared in the off chance that they had a true ability to lay claim to the throne of the Empire itself. Therefore, Morgana and Imperius would have to be careful about how they moved and when they struck against the Council members. They would need to make sure that the ones who remained were weak enough to be defeated by them so that when one of them was declared an Emperor, they could start again.

Meanwhile, Hyperion would have to be dealt with if he somehow survived the Kaggath against Morgana as well. Most likely, he could be dealt with through poisons that affected his connection to the Force in addition to his physical strength. Or Morgana could challenge him to a lightsaber duel in conclusion to the Kaggath so that she could prove herself against him forever. If she could somehow eliminate Imperius along the way through understandable circumstances such as a sabotaged ship or an infiltrator who could destroy him then she was set. On the other hand, if she could secure his loyalty, perhaps as her new Wrath when Hyperion was dead, then she would have an ally she had wrapped around her pinky.

Aside from the two of them being different species, it was not impossible to find him an attractive prospect. He had power, he had experience and on top of that, he had centuries of life ahead of him. It was difficult not to imagine a more worthy Emperor's Wrath to have by her side as she conquered the galaxy. More, he would be biding his time for the chance to take the galaxy once she fell and he would outlive even Lord Jadus. He would be powerful and cunning well into the five-hundreds at this rate and could yet be the most powerful Sith in existence.

Morgana could also use him to secure her own existence if need be, transferring her essence into him. Once she'd done that, she could survive for centuries more and carry on the legacies and tradition of the Sith. She could then have clones of him prepared for her essence to be carried on throughout the millennia to come, perhaps even clone one of those green tridactyl creatures who could live to nine centuries. Granted, she would lose significant stature in choosing one of them but they were as close to immortality as she could achieve in the absence of total preservation. The prize of eternal rule was too enticing not to attempt to grasp and if she could just swat away the other hands striving for it, she could finally enjoy revenge.

The jubilee came and when Jadus was dismissed to help coordinate the other elements of the celebration, Morgana set the wheels in motion. "Sniper, get into position in case Verrin survives the onslaught. Devils, begin your onslaught: start with the Mark I war droids then work your way up to the Imperial Guard. Comm me again when you have destroyed the Emperor," Morgana told them. It was critical that they think they'd have a chance or else they wouldn't fight as hard and Verrin would destroy them all.

Hyperion, chasing down the false lead she'd set at Verrin's request, would be unable to assist his master in time to save him if he fell. The board was set, the pieces of Morgana's plan were moving, and the Dark Council, Jadus, and Hyperion would be helpless to save Verrin. Their only hope would be if Verrin somehow saved himself but Morgana had a feeling such was not to be. When the Devils had infiltrated the ranks of the security detail and simultaneously destroyed all the war droids, she knew the fun was starting. She just sat with Imperius and watched it all.


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

**Chapter Twenty-One**

As soon as explosions started to sound off across his jubilee, Verrin knew he had been betrayed from within. The security detail that Lady Minshuto had hired managed to destroy the Mark I war droids and the Mark II would never reach him in time to avail him. Worse, the mercenaries were breezing through his Imperial Guards who were trained for Force-sensitives but not for mercenaries who'd defeated numerous Jedi and Sith alike. _The Devils of Mustafar, the treacherous mercenary group that makes the worst tribe of Mando'a look like child's play. No wonder Minshuto didn't wish to name them when she invited them to be my security detail_ Verrin thought as he unclipped and ignited his saber's twin blades.

As soon as the Devils took their first shots, Verrin recognized the energy paths for slugthrowers and tried to avoid the shots where he could. He then batted away the ones he could, careful to avoid the melting of the slugs in each of them so that he could keep up the fight. But each impact made him more and more weary, forcing him to change tactics even as the Devils continued to encircle him. He enveloped twenty in a storm of Force Lightning that killed them outright then Force-pushed the corpses into their comrades before activating their thermal detonators. Unfortunately, the Devils were already aware of this as some could see the blinking red lights when the bodies were spun their way.

So the order was given to shoot the grenades before they could cause heavy casualties. Easier said than done for most marksmen but the Devils, as Verrin knew from their repute, were no ordinary marksmen. Only ten more were killed by the explosives and only because they couldn't evade or shoot the grenades fast enough. Some of the Devils had blaster pistols that Verrin knew he could deflect if he could just force them to somehow expend the ammunition of their rifles. So when sixty more of them trained their rifles on him, he quickly raised a barrier he designed to grow stronger with the concussive force of the projectiles by absorbing the kinetic energy of their impact.

It was the most effective tool he had against them but one that exacted a heavy mental toll on him as they barraged him with slugthrowers while twenty more shot missiles from their jetpacks. Verrin survived it all and even though the riflemen still had ammunition, half of them decided to reserve what they had left for anyone coming to Verrin's defense. The Emperor, gazing upon the enemies before him, now wished he had mastered more of the secrets left behind by Lord Vitiate rather than rejecting them for the fact Lord Vitiate had used them. Had these assassins been facing Vitiate, he would have eviscerated them with no more than a thought if he had wished it.

Now, Verrin was about to face the consequences of that decision as all eighty of the ninety whipped out pistols and began to fire. Nearly two-hundred pistols shot their bolts at him and Verrin's skill with Soresu and Shien held out, killing ten more roughly though Verrin knew it wasn't much longer before he would need help escaping. "Wrath, come to your Emperor! I am alone and facing overwhelming odds!" Verrin exclaimed into a comlink that he activated with the Force. The words felt venomous even as he had said them and he knew that if Minshuto had a way of recording his transmission then he had better hope he could survive long enough to destroy her slowly for her betrayal against him... Unfortunately Lady Minshuto herself was the only one who'd ever survived the wrath of the Devils and lived to tell of it.

 **Hyperion was chasing a lead** through the streets that proved to be fruitless. He was anonymously informed of a Jedi infiltrator and he half wondered if Dantius had lost faith in his mission or had sent someone to check on him. In fact, Hyperion almost hoped Dantius had come so that he could straighten out things with him in person or perhaps to find out from him that the intel he provided was either bogus or no longer worth its merit. When he didn't find his brother or any infiltrator, he made his way back to the jubilee chamber, contemplating who would want the Emperor to ask such a mission of him as chasing down a Jedi here on Balmorra. Usually, the Jedi were far too calculating to make such obvious mistakes as that, too clever and too witty for such stupidities.

On occasion, however, Jedi Masters who knew this to be true were prone to arrogance and delusion. It was entirely possible that one such person had come and tried to put a stop to the Emperor, using the intel Hyperion had provided. _Think on it, who would gain from having you away from the jubilation? Who would have the most in making you look like a fool, chasing a dead end and why do you suppose they would do it?_ Crassus chided him. Hyperion couldn't initially think of it, preferring not to indulge or speak to his grandfather's ethereal form.

But he did have a point about one thing, Hyperion did have enemies who might gain from pranking him in this fashion. Then, the comm from the Emperor came in and everything made sense at once. "Wrath, come to your Emperor," Verrin had said, before grunting from exertion (blaster fire sounding in the background), then adding, "I am alone and facing overwhelming odds." Suddenly, despite his wishes not to concede to his grandfather, Hyperion realized that everything added up.

In a bid for power, Morgana knew that she couldn't take the Emperor and Hyperion if they were in the same room. Therefore, she had hired the so-called security detail that reminded Hyperion of the Mustafar Devils to destroy the Emperor's Guards and droids when Hyperion left. Then they would press an assault on the Emperor while Hyperion was still pressing the false lead she had set for him. Trusting, one should add, that by the time Hyperion had returned to fall into the trap that his master would be dead and Morgana crowned the new Empress. No, Hyperion remembered, she couldn't do that yet: she was doing this to justify a Kaggath against him if the Emperor fell while the Wrath was supposed to be guarding him from harm!

If she could attack him from the comforts of legitimacy in the Imperial scheme of things then no one would oppose her challenge or aid him in deposing it. He returned to the outside perimeter of where the jubilee was supposed to have taken place and realized that no one from the Dark Council had yet called aid. The Emperor was supposed to be the undisputed master of the Empire and if Hyperion's suspicions were correct, they would let him fall if he had proven weak enough. But Hyperion was not about to fail him, not when the stakes were too high for him among other people. Before he could, he sensed twenty men with slugthrower rifles preparing to pelt him with their projectiles and he prepared his shield to counter.

Thanks to its layers of near-indestructible metal, it could withstand the pelting of the slugthrowers quite well but the shock was still enough to pin him where he was. When they needed to reload, Hyperion wasted no time in Force Leaping toward them and landing in their midst, throwing shurikens to kill four then shoot his wrist blades into another. He then produced his ax and cleaved six more with it, splitting their skulls with the larger blade even through the metal of their helmets. When this was proving to be ineffective against them all, he shot his spear into three more, killing a combined total of fourteen of them. Seeing how quickly he had mowed through their comrades, the remaining six began to retreat with the aid of their jetpacks, preparing to punish him with another desperate volley.

But he countered by clipping his ax and unholstering one of his pistols. Quicker than they could react, he shot down four by hitting the ignition of their jetpacks. Four explosions ended the lives of the four mercenaries and his last shot detonated a grenade, causing two explosions with the flammability of the jetpacks that all but incinerated its owner. The last one was Force-choked then thrown into his comrades where Hyperion then activated yet another grenade with the Force and took out eight more of the remaining seventy. With Force-imbued agility, he unloaded all six of his throwing knives to fatally wound their targets then threw his own grenades, taking out eight more with them. He was left with just forty-eight by the time he used his nets to kill off four more then threw his ax into another man's chest, puncturing his aorta artery.

When he produced his whip, he was able to kill three more but the rest were much too cautious by now. Unfortunately, even this progress he had made was not nearly enough to save the Emperor who managed to kill another ten more before he was fatally injured. A jetpack missile shot right into his midsection with only enough time on his part to absorb what would've killed him right there and then with tutaminis. The burn marks and the shockwaves made Verrin almost collapse there and then as well but he powered through the Force Body as he had during the rest of the attack. Unfortunately, his ability to perform this spell was wearing out and it was only a matter of time before he suffered the final fate.

Ten who still had vibroblades, jetpack missiles, flamethrowers, and grenades amongst others decided to take the battle to Hyperion who was down to his whip, shield, and lightsabers. As he fought them, the other twenty encircled Verrin to make the finishing strikes, shooting him down with as many bolts as each pair of pistols they carried could produce. Verrin was great when he was in peak health but now, bolts were making their mark, slowing him down as each one hit him. Hyperion could tell, through his Force Rage and other building energies that he was preparing one last attack which came in the form of Force Repulse.

Every Devil in the vicinity of the energy field was burned to ash while Hyperion finished off the ten that he had been fighting. But when he finally could make it to his master's side, it was too late. Hyperion knew through the Force and confirmed with two fingers, that Emperor Verrin was dead.


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

On the anniversary of his reign, Verrin had fallen to the Devils of Mustafar even while his Wrath had provided practically no help in wiping them out. Reinforcements from the Dark Council had routed out any remaining assassins, including the sniper who would've finished off Verrin if he survived the Devils within merely a week of the assassination commencing. Unfortunately, despite the guilty fingers pointing to Lady Minshuto and her co-conspirator, no one was willing to accuse Morgana of crafting the assassination. Instead, they had stood idly by as the one who once was called Morgana leveled accusations in the direction of Hyperion and not entirely without justification where the Council stood.

"How could he be worthy of being our Wrath if his power couldn't even save our Emperor from peril? In what universe could such a failure be worthy of training the heirs to Verrin's throne?" Minshuto had started asking them. Hyperion had only responded by pushing his students even harder once they returned from the missions he and Jadus had assigned them. Amongst his measures was to hold lightsaber duels, especially once they constructed their blades. The escalation had cost Dandy and Glass their lives, leaving only Blob, Slinky, and Small-Fry to remain as Emperor's Hands with the according resources of such spies.

Imperious, upon their nominations, began levying accusations that because of how their father had fallen, they were even weaker than he had been. Goading and prodding at the remaining sons of Verrin, the Pau'an was blessed when it was they who challenged him to a Kaggath as opposed to vice versa, perhaps what Minshuto was counting on. Simultaneous to that, Morgana L'étoile Brillante (the lady known as Darth Minshuto) declared her own Kaggath against Hyperion himself. She had declared that she was pitting her fleets against the ones Vowrawn had merely handed Hyperion. Numerically, Hyperion was no match for her but he knew he had the edge in strategy and cunning as Morgana's haughtiness and Crassus' presence in Hyperion's being revealed.

Crassus had more than a century fighting like Sith and could suggest the kind of advice that could only be borne out of that experience. So whenever he told Hyperion to have his most maneuverable fighters, which also could spray missiles at the enemy, form a wedge formation then Hyperion did just that. If Crassus said to have all freighter class ships or above turned their sides so that their missiles and laser fire could defend them from any approach of Morgana's, Hyperion did but with one difference. He did so at an angle that allowed the ships to maneuver into fighting position if and when any of Morgana's cruisers got through. All Crassus asked for was one thing: possession of a worthy body for his return into the universe.

Hyperion had an idea for just who to give to his grandfather once he had an opportunity to do so without violating the terms of the Kaggath of himself or the boys. He just needed to keep himself up to date in their comm transmissions and make sure they didn't call for help but did persuade him that he needed their help all the same. They kept him in the loop and in turn, he kept them up to date, having come to realize the value of his training as soon as they took to fighting Imperius with the stratagems Jadus taught them in combo to their martial skills. The boys were by no means capable of defeating the Pau'an himself but they scored resounding successes against his subordinate Lords. Hyperion, meanwhile, enjoyed similar successes but was not yet able to put a permanent end to Lady Minshuto.

That was until Hyperion received a communication that she was hoping to secure a foothold on Dathomir so that she could rely on its power to beat him. In the end, after consultation with the soul of Crassus, Hyperion decided that the best thing to do was to stop her from landing on Dathomir. So he stationed his fleet in orbit around the circumference of the planet as his grandfather suggested. Also, looking at the star maps, Hyperion realized that there were only three ways Morgana could possibly come from and all of them were defensible. When the fleet was in orbit around the planet, Crassus explained his reasoning for the strategy of encircling the planet.

 _When Morgana begins to see she might be able to break through, we then order the other halves of the circle to break apart then maneuver to flank her. A perfect pincer movement that will slaughter all her soldiers and destroy almost every ship she has in her fleet but even this will not end her threat once and for all. We need to find her flagship, board it once we have her flanked, and kill her_ Crassus told his grandson. Hyperion couldn't have agreed more and decided that he would bide his time, planetside, until her fleet was reported as attacking his own.

By this time, she was reduced to a third of her original resources which was a loss that could be easily recuperated in Balmorra but only once she defeated him or was herself beaten. This was a rule declared by the Dark Council with the approval of Lord Jadus when both the Kaggaths began as a means of ensuring they didn't needlessly dip into Imperial resources. Now, as the hour of the final battle was already approaching, Morgana being intercepted at and defeated in four systems, Hyperion stood by. To sweeten the prospect of her arrival, he had his spies inform her that when Hyperion intended to intercept her this time, he wasn't going to be leading the effort and that the majority of his fleet was going to be there. Making his annihilation impossible for her to escape for him once she had taken the planet by storm.

 _Why do that, Hyperion? Now she will suspect a trap and, if she is wise, not take the bait!_ Crassus demanded at once.

"Yes, the reasonable part of her will suspect a trap. But the problem with people like Morgana, or Darth Minshuto, is that they're cocky. If they're invited to destroy something as worthy of their time as the majority of my resources then she will strike. The reasonable part of her will say know but when have you ever known a Sith to be reasonable when it doesn't heighten their ambition?" Hyperion asked.

 _One needs to be reasonable when ruling an interplanetary empire of the sort I commanded from our homeworld. Watch what you say about the Sith and their reasonability!_ Crassus snapped.

"You prove my point exactly. Sith only use those things that further their goals and agendas, as much as they need to then cast it aside at the first instance that it is useless. You cast reason out of the window more often than I'll ever delve into in a conversation with you simply because you were Emperor of what we had then thought to be the galaxy," Hyperion replied, enjoying the privacy they had for these conversations. Both sat back and waited, waiting patiently for their prey to fall into their trap even as his fleet itched for a fight.

Then, when Morgana finally came, Hyperion could sense her and saw her personal flagship pop up on the radar. She had taken the bait after several days of waiting and launched her attack right as his men had become the most impatient for a fight. So it was that her fleets engaged him with their full might, a calculated mistake Hyperion had foreseen on her part. He knew that if she was allowed to believe she could destroy the majority of his fleet, she would call upon all of her resources to succeed in the mission. Now, the time had come for him to begin setting the next phase of his trap into motion.

"Left and right flanks, begin to pinch her forces in place, center fleet: hold your ground as long as you can but inch away towards the surface of the planet until your comrades arrive," Hyperion began. When he was given the signal that his orders had been received by his fleet, he called upon his reserves. "Make the hyperspace jump to Dathomir when you know you can arrive in a standard hour. I want Morgana trapped to where she cannot retreat even if any of her forces somehow manage to escape my pincer movement," Hyperion ordered them. When he received the confirmation that his orders had been received, and that the jump would be made in ten standard minutes, he smiled.

Ten minutes was about the limit of how long his fleet on Dathomir could likely hold in any case before completing the tendrils of the pincer. Then, it would likely be another fifteen minutes or so of fighting before Lady Minshuto would get the picture and start issuing a retreat. From there, it would become a matter of then stalling them at all three sides until they were sure that retreat was impossible or else killing Minshuto before she could issue the order. Wanting to leave nothing to chance, Hyperion decided that the time had come to cut the head off the snake while he still held the advantage.

"Ready my ship, I'm going in for the kill as soon as Lady Minshuto's flagship is tightly caught in our pincer," Hyperion ordered his guards. The guards had arrived when he had called for them and when they did, he knew better than to stall them. They pumped a fist over their chest in salutation before rushing to obey his orders to fuel and ready his ship for takeoff.

 _She is powerful for one as young as she is and you are not exactly in your prime. Are you sure you are up to the task of defeating her, with or without my help?_ Crassus warned.

"There is only one way to find out. Journey to her flagship when it is confirmed that it is trapped and go from there," Hyperion told him.

 _Do you even know what it is called?_ Crassus demanded.

"Funny you say that because I do. In order to remind me of her reason for fighting against me, she named it the Patricia. My fleet knows it too and when they can confirm they've got her, we move," Hyperion said. Roughly eleven minutes later, the confirmation came and Hyperion blasted off from Dathomir's surface to face down his greatest rival yet.


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

Hyperion readied with his entire arsenal of weapons, prepared to take down Lady Minshuto's men without the aid of his lightsaber. He wanted to reserve his dueling energy for when he found her and so, sought to use his blasters and his shield for dealing with her soldiers when he boarded her ship. Whenever he knew he would lesser Sith Lords, he would send members of the Imperial Guard in his group to take them down, allowing him to continue on his way with impunity. On occasion, he had a subordinate lord who had a rivalry or grudge against a lord in Lady Minshuto's service and so would let them settle their rivalry.

Finally, after what felt like several hours despite being only twenty minutes or so, he reached her chamber. On the other side of the door, Morgana was already waiting for him, eager to take him down at long last. She stood to attention as he entered slowly, unsure what tricks she had up her sleeve. He simply knew that he wouldn't be using his blaster or most of his other weapons for that matter. Crassus suggested using the spear and shurikens which Hyperion briefly considered before reminding him that Morgana would be using the Force which could make it difficult for him to use those weapons.

 _Yet you will have an edge if you can disrupt her concentration on more complex spells and rituals of the Dark Side. You are a warrior and as such, you are prone to the kinds of problems associated with a warrior including limited usage of Force powers. Start thinking to outsmart her or you will soon be in trouble from the more complex powers she can summon against you_ Crassus told him. Hyperion agreed about that and decided to maybe use a couple grenades while he was at it, knowing his only real advantage lied in exploiting that part of Morgana's nature.

"Unexpected but not unwelcome, I have been waiting for this chance most of my adult life. You can't imagine how I have reveled in thoughts of how I intend to destroy you when I found you. How you would suffer for torturing her as she suffered from your advances!" Morgana told him. Hyperion readied his lightsabers for the duel to come but he did not immediately go to the blade immediately.

"Morgana..." he began, "you talk of wanting me to suffer, of wanting me tortured as I tortured her. Not a day goes by when I am not in torment for my actions in youth, not a day goes by when I wish I could bend the folds of time so that I could stop myself from all the things I did to her, to my brother, to... to you. I have not even begun to pay for the sins of my stupidity nor do I believe any apology will ever free me of your hatred."

"If that is so, then why do you still fight me?" she asked him.

"Because the path you walk, the path of vengeance, is a fool's errand. Think of how long it took you to even have a shot of destroying me with Seth's help, let alone the help of your Devils. How long it took you to even come face to face with me after what I did to your sister, think of things like that. And think of what will happen when you kill me, what purpose will guide your life then?" he answered.

"Power and domination of the galaxy will be the only purpose I need. I will tear down the Empire and rebuild the Sith anew to one day conquer the Jedi and their vaunted Republic! Why do you think I persist so vehemently in my vengeance against you for what you did to my sister?" she replied.

"Because you have been guided by every bit the same hateful stupidity that once guided my actions. You see a wrong performed you and you believe only blood will right it as I once did when Dantius incarcerated me on Teth. But now, I see why even the Sith sometimes look down on games of revenge: because it is not only one of the ultimate acts of selfishness it is the only one that does not further the will of the Force in anyway. Even if the Jedi are still ignorant when they say that the Force works in mysterious ways," Hyperion explained.

"Then face me on your newfound moral piety and not on the monstrosity I know you are capable of being. You raped my sister, beat her, and left her for dead. Now I will see you die, suffering as she suffered before I take your life!" Morgana said. Then the fighting began with Hyperion keeping her at bay with both his blades despite her using one crimson blade against him. In all, she was an incredibly skilled warrior with expertise in the seven forms of lightsaber combat with specialties in Ataru, Juyo, Makashi, and Soresu evident.

After a joust, Hyperion assumed a ready position once more and said, "What I did was unforgivable, I know that Morgana. But it is not your place to decide my judgment, unless it is the will of the Force that I fall before you." But Morgana was only half listening, concentrated to the point of utter fixation on taking Hyperion's life. She displayed prowess in the Force Speed talent which further made her dangerous to him since that meant she could dart away from him, reassess the situation before her then dart back in with a new plan.

This meant he too would have to change strategies especially as she seemed to be assessing his skills, scanning for weaknesses she could exploit against him. It was when it was looking like Hyperion finally got a sense of things that she then surprised him by revealing the presence of another lightsaber on her person, throwing off his assessment of her completely. Now, he had to change tactics again, learn how she fought and moved, the works that he had performed with her traditional combat. Since he was using Jar'Kai, this didn't take as long as her traditional styling but it took him a minute or two.

Then she surprised him further with a magnetic pommel on each of her blades, allowing her to form a perfect saberstaff, forcing the cycle of assessment to begin again. Saberstaff assessment was slightly longer than Jar'Kai but in revealing all these tricks, Morgana had inadvertently given Hyperion a complete picture of her lightsaber abilities. Combining the methods he'd developed for countering her styles, he knew she wouldn't have much of a chance against him unless she could think of something extremely clever. Unfortunately for him, he had noticed the look of concentration she had on her face and recognized it not as concentration on him but concentration on something else. Then, just when he thought she was going to be killed alas, she sped away and initiated a spell he never thought he would see used against him or see on anyone else in his life: she performed the infamous Memory Walk on his mind.


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

Hyperion couldn't hear Crassus when the Memory Walk was initiated nor could he react except to see the memories of his worse deeds brought to the surface. Every embarrassment, whether performed on or by him, every jeer and torment he had ever experienced or conducted arose to the surface. "Nothing but darkness and the sins of your past lie ahead of you, Hyperion Algethii," Morgana shouted though distantly. Hyperion saw the darkness all around him, unsure if this was how Memory Walk was supposed to work. All he could surmise was that the form he perceived for himself was the form in his mind as he saw the gauntlet he had wielded when he was a gladiator and even the simple garb of those bygone days of his youth.

Walking forward, he continued in darkness until he could hear shouts in the distance which compelled him to run toward them. When he reached the source, he saw his childhood form reliving the torments caused by Crassus. "You were not this weak when you lead me to your parents!" Crassus taunted.

"Forgive me, grandfather, forgive me!" begged the kid. But the grown Hyperion knew where this was going before Crassus had even spoken in this vision.

"That is not the way of the Dark Side," hissed the vestige of his grandfather. Then he shot bolts of purple lightning at his grandson, subjugating him to the torture that numerous Force-sensitives suffered. Again and again, he experienced this cycle of his childhood form begging forgiveness and Crassus, again and again until Hyperion felt the pain in his head like a migraine. The pain then continued to escalate until at last, he began seizing and crawled desperately to some respite he could find from the pain. Then suddenly, it was over and Hyperion was still alive in spite of what he had just experienced.

"What... what happened? Shouldn't I be dead?" Hyperion asked, the echo in his voice confirming that he was still in the ethereal realm of the Memory Walk spell.

" _Come to the light, my boy. I have done what I can to save you but the barrage of misdeeds you have either experienced or performed will keep punishing you until you find the way out_ ," said the voice of his grandfather, this time older and a tad friendlier. Hyperion crawled at first, still hunched over in pain from the agony he felt all over his body, even aching in his arms. Never had he thought he would again feel anything in his right arm with the fact Dantius had severed it yet here he was in the ethereal realm of his mind and the Memory Walk.

Then again, the last time he had ever been an ethereal realm, it had been under illusions cast forth by his grandfather in preparation for a life of Rage. " _Remember how you conquered the illusions I set forth? Find the Sight again and you will survive this_ ," Crassus said, as if spurred on by the thoughts of the past. Hyperion thought carefully then realized Crassus was talking about Force Sight, the only ability that allowed a Force-sensitive to see past illusions without somehow dispelling them. So he concentrated on the Force, thinking to that old ability and he realized he was still back on the ship, Morgana watching him writhe in pain from the severity of the spell she had inflicted on him.

He saw as she drank in his suffering and enjoyed his anguish like a nourishing meal as a model Sith should. So he trudged on in the ethereal realm created from his mind, experiencing every single sin he had ever performed to the point of agonizing pain over the course of what was only several minutes in real time. But in that realm, it felt like many thousands of years had past between every excursion but as Hyperion examined each one, he found himself growing in strength and mental resolution to power through this curse. However, he knew the worst was yet to come and his ethereal form continued to trudge on, rising from a slithering stance to a hunched but upright walk. When he arrived at where he had seen the light before, it washed over him in a blaze that revealed the memory he had yet to cover: Patricia's rape.

He felt every agony she did in all the same areas she did, from every thrust of his younger form into her flower to the pommeling he gave her face. This continued until the pain he felt in himself physically was so overwhelming he thought he had been transformed into Patricia and made to experience what he'd done to her for that one moment. When it was finally over, he found himself alive and well, the Sight doing nothing to save him from the pain even when he had used it to try and overcome the flashback of Patricia. "Now, do you see? Do you understand now what you did to my sister?" Morgana said, igniting both lightsabers in preparation for his doom.

Hyperion was on his hands and knees when he returned to his corporeal shell from the Memory Walk spell, nodding frantically and panting heavily like he were an akk dog. He was sweating profusely like he had been training in preparation for work with his pupils though he knew this wasn't the case. "I was hoping that memory of what you did to my sister would be your last obstacle. If none of your other sins broke you, I knew that one would or it would leave you so close to destroyed the difference would be irrelevant and I could move in," Morgana said.

"And when you've had your revenge, when you have your power, what then?" Hyperion asked. He was prepared to die, prepared to be tortured further by Morgana, prepared for anything the Force willed into happening. That was when time froze and Morgana stood with her lightsabers crossed in an X shape to deliver the critical blow. From behind him, Crassus' ethereal form walked into view and stared him down with a mixture of anticipation and disappointment.

" _You stand on the knife edge of a bifocating path, young one. Do you choose life and allow me the singlest moment of control to deal with this pest? Or do you choose death and let her destroy us both?_ " he asked. Hyperion noticed that time was paused but not frozen, Morgana was still moving toward him although Crassus had managed to slow down the pace of it. She hadn't even had time to answer his question about what would happen once she had all she strode for.

So Hyperion looked up to his grandfather and made the only logical choice that stood before him. "Take care of her," he said.

" _Gladly_ ," was the response. Time returned to its normal form just in time for Morgana to answer his question.

"I suppose I will find out then if I have achieved my peace of mind and can help the Sith to begin again. So why not start by killing you here and now?" she said as she prepared to execute the Emperor's Wrath, ending the Kaggath with a victory. But just then, Hyperion found himself invigorated with the strength to rise up to full height faster than she could react. More importantly, his mechanical right hand was temporarily replaced by the ethereal arm of his grandfather as was his left hand. Then, before she could react even to cast a barrier against it, Crassus used his son's body to cast such a punishing volley of Force Lightning that the bolts ripped through the barrier, short-circuited her lightsabers, and burned her beautiful body to a crisp.

Even with the mechanical arm, Crassus' storm had destroyed her without impediment and now, a charred husk was all that remained of a powerful Sith enchantress. "What... what have you done?" Hyperion asked.

" _No it's what we have done, together. Now leave this ship, my storm destroyed the controls and the self-destruct sequence should be starting soon_ ," Crassus told his grandson. Sure enough, a robotic voice told announced that a self-destruct sequence would active in five minutes.

Hyperion sped as best he could past the bodies of his fellow Sith Lords, past the soldiers who'd either fallen to his command or in defense of their deceased mistress. As he walked, he found himself confused: he'd seen Morgana die but somehow, her presence was not fully eliminated. Almost as if she had not yet become one with the Force the way that she would have if she weren't trying to preserve her conscience. Had she somehow bound herself to a talisman that would exist as long as the galaxy did?

Was she attempting essence transfer on him and he was simply fighting it off more powerfully than she was expecting him to? He brushed it aside and used Force Rage to reach his shuttle, ordering it to embark on the journey back to his quarters just in time for the ten-second count to begin. They couldn't have been more than forty meters out when the _Patricia_ finally detonated, taking those who had died within it to a fiery grave. Hyperion had won the Kaggath with Morgana's death and it wouldn't be long before the Dark Council was commed accordingly.

So he rested himself while he was waiting for the Dark Council to receive the confirmation that he would be awarded accolades for his victory. Letting the last several standard weeks finally catch up to him, he let himself fall into a deep and nourishing slumber that lasted for nearly a day. When he awoke, Morgana's forces had completely surrendered to his, provided they hadn't already died in service to their lady. More to the point, they were even willing to break with the past and serve him as loyally as they had served her as had been the case with many a Sith trooper in the past.

The final accounting was completed with Morgana being concluded as having been so resoundingly beaten that she was never worthy of her seat on the Dark Council. In contrast, Hyperion was more than worthy of his position as the Emperor's Wrath. However, there was a comm he received over the channels that changed his mind about any immediate celebrations he may have had planned.


	25. Chapter Twenty-Five

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

Hyperion received a signal over the comms he hacked into from the remaining brothers he had trained. "We're taking having fire over here, Slinky!" said one of the brothers. Hyperion wasn't sure which one because the transmission was partially tarnished by static. But as soon as he heard the voice, he knew what was going to happen next even as it unfolded before his eyes.

"I can't help you anymore than you could help me. Darth Imperius has us spread too thinly to help one another even if it was the Sith way to do so. You're on your own, Small-Fry!" said Slinky. Hyperion realized then what he had to do even as he chided himself for falling into this trap. Morgana had never intended to let him escape the Kaggaths of himself and the boys without consequence.

Even if she failed, she knew she could count on Imperius to somehow tarnish the reputation of the boys as well as his own. After all, if the princes couldn't conquer a member of the Dark Council without the aid of the Emperor's Wrath, how could they be worthy of the throne? But if Hyperion could somehow black out the surveillance of Imperius' ship and jam his communications before he could call for help? Then there would be uncertainty as to how he was defeated and perhaps, Imperius could be even disgraced by being made to forfeit the Kaggath. But then, how would Crassus be able to rise up in esteem in time to be of any help to Hyperion if he gave him the body of a man who would be disgraced to surrender the Kaggath?

Did he want Crassus to possess the political prestige that Imperius commanded in any case? If so, how would Crassus cover for Imperius' losses without losing any prestige (the risk of forfeiting the Kaggath) to begin with? _I will say that the boys convinced me of their determination to fight to the last and that strategically, I would have fewer casualties to forfeit the Kaggath than to win it. With the news of Morgana's death undoubtedly reaching him by now, Imperius will be unsettled in any case and it isn't impossible for the Council to imagine that as his reaction_ Crassus told him. Suddenly, everything clicked together and Hyperion knew that Crassus was right, much as he hated to give him credit there.

Imperius would have heard about Morgana's death long before Hyperion could think to aid the princes. If so, he would be demoralized even as he pressed on with the attack and if the princes were somehow aided somewhat then they could convince him to surrender. That was when Hyperion decided that he would take his shuttle separate from his main force and have them bring up the rear of the princes so that Imperius would think a Dark Councilor was aiding the boys. It wouldn't have been unheard of for a member of the Dark Council member to send reinforcements from their own fleets in order to save political allies like the princes would be so that they may propel their own gains. So Hyperion did the unthinkable and had his forces restore the banner of Darth Zavakon's house, effectively framing the Sith Lord for reinforcing the boys against the rules of the Kaggath.

In his elder years, Zavakon was becoming known for only obeying the Sith rules that favored his gains. Therefore, framing him for reinforcing the princes in violation of the Kaggath wouldn't seem like a far-fetched move for him. Considering the ships being sent in were the same ships he himself used and his officials were familiar with the tactics he typically fancied, Hyperion could pull off a convincing job of framing him for this violation. He might even take credit before the Dark Council and thus be subjugant to the penalties that Jadus could prescribe as the Voice of the Emperor. It could potentially mean one less Dark Councilor to contend with if Zavakon was asked to joust with Imperius, imbued with Crassus' spirit, for honor's sake.

Effectively speaking, Hyperion saved the boys, rid himself of the Pau'an as a threat, and had an ally who could eliminate yet another rival from the equation. The only trouble was what consequences could be rendered upon the Jedi Order and the Republic once Crassus was resurrected. Yes, Crassus would be mortal and thus more vulnerable to death once again but what price would the champions have to pay to exploit that possibility? Would Dantius, his superiors, and even the Chancellor have to die to ensure the threat of the Sith never rose under Crassus' leadership, seeing as the old man had already ruled over an empire before? Would a reign of terror have to befall the Republic because of Hyperion's compassion for his three best trainees?

He supposed that the only way to know for certain was to take a chance. Ordering his shuttle ready, he again supplied himself with the arsenal he'd used in dealing with Morgana. The only difference was that the ship he was using now was bigger, enough to accommodate two-hundred passengers. So, rather than leave a confrontation with Imperius to chance, he asked all one-hundred and fifty subordinate Lords and Dark Lords to join him. He also asked twenty slicers and thirty combat automata with Zakuul shields and slugthrowers to join him too.

Once they knew that their main fleet was in position over Mandalore, where the princes transmissions had come from, Hyperion had the slicers on work against survey and comm. They confirmed they had comm channels down along with surveillance which left only on thing. It was time to board the ship and make sure those things stayed down for good via grenades to the necessary machines. Which became the first order of business for the droids once Hyperion's crew boarded the ship, the Lords and Dark Lords getting ahead to clear the way for the droids.

Fighting off soldiers to reach Imperius turned out to be the easy part, especially once Hyperion gave the order for his forces to engage, bulking up the brothers' rear and allowing them to join him as he had his lieutenant request of them. When Hyperion could secure that Imperius wouldn't have time to escape, due to the slicers going the extra mile to launch the escape pods before anyone could use them. Then he waited until the brothers could confirm that they were on board and on their way to the bridge, where Darth Imperius awaited for those who'd challenge him. Fortunately, Hyperion was prepared for virtually anything Imperius could throw their way, including his own caste of Lords and Dark Lords to counter the ones Hyperion and the princes brought with them.

Marching through the bridge entrance, the subordinates filed out to deal with Imperius' blade fodder, isolating him for Hyperion and the princes. "So, the Wrath would help the sons of Verrin to face me. You display impressive cunning in framing Zavakon by painting his banner on your ships but I know your deception now. Doubtless, you will join them in killing me?" Imperius asked. Hyperion surprised him with his response by shaking his head slowly, baffling the Pau'an Sith Lord and even Crassus.

"I believe they're more than a match for you on their own. And even if they're not, it only reflects on how effective I am as a teacher. It reflects no inherent weakness in me beyond the inability to train others in the arts of the Dark Side. A job not traditionally associated with an Emperor's Wrath in any case, would you not agree?" Hyperion replied. Imperius snarled under his breath, brandishing sharp fang-like teeth that didn't intimidate Hyperion but did put off the boys a little boy.

"Are you sure we're ready?" Slinky asked.

"Whether you are or not, this is your Kaggath. If you do not finish this yourselves, then you will be weak and deserving of your ends," Hyperion said. He did smirk and wink at them as he took a step back and even helped eliminate the subordinate guards with his non-lightsaber arsenal, using his shurikens, grenades, blasters, nets, spear, whip, ax, and shield instead. The entire time, he kept himself relatively strengthened by relying on some of Crassus' power to keep his potential for combat at its peak even as he used his bladed weapons. Crassus grumbled that Hyperion should use lightsabers to fell them but Hyperion pointed out that if the brothers failed, he needed the advantage of peak dueling form to bring down Imperius while he was still weak.

It was when they were finished and the Lords of both sides were too busy fighting among themselves to notice or care that Hyperion turned back to the boys. Blob fell early as Hyperion somewhat expected but Small-Fry and Slinky were holding pretty well against the Sith Lord. The only thing that seemed to give them any trouble was the fact that Imperius employed a shield as well. But Slinky convinced him to part with it when he deceived him by mock charging then halting and shooting him with Force Lightning when he raised up the cortosis shield.

Admittedly, Hyperion wasn't surprised to see them using such tactics but what concerned him was when Imperius turned out to improve without the shield rather than worsen. Almost as if he used the blade and shield combination to feel out his opponents than destroy them as soon as he had a strategy put together. Then he destroyed Slinky with a wave of even more potent Force Lightning than he had previously seen any other Councilor. Small-Fry was able to charge through a Force Push but at the expense of being two weak to stop Imperius from swatting his lightsaber out of his hand then impale him with his blade. Imperius then cut Small-Fry into five pieces to make sure the Zabrak stayed dead when Small-Fry continued to charge through even as he was impaled on the blade.

Imperius seemed somewhat strained, almost as if he hadn't quite been as powerful as he boasted and owed his seat to the fear his name caused. This proved somewhat promising but when Hyperion used Force Sight, the malevolent aura Imperius cast out in gigantic waves told him the panting was meant to be a front. "Quit trying to deceive your enemies, Pau'an. You may have won the Kaggath but you have failed in the greater war of the Sith," Hyperion told him. It was then and only then that Hyperion finally withdrew both of his lightsabers, purple and yellow blades hissing to life as he readied himself to kill yet another prominent Imperial official.


	26. Chapter Twenty-Six

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

Imperius seemed to operate on deceiving his foes into believing a certain thing about him and once that belief was busted, he didn't seem an effective tactician. Hyperion observed that once Imperius knew the shield wasn't going to fool him, he didn't bother with it and more. The older alien seemed to need time in order to understand the kind of foe, he was up against, relying heavily upon Soresu to keep himself safe during a lightsaber duel in the meantime. Tactically speaking, this was the most brilliant combination of forms and maneuvers that Hyperion ever encountered even if it wasn't entirely "Sith" as the Council might have defined the term.

Even so, it was tactically practical in this situation even if there was always one inherent weakness with such people as him. Soresu could be countered by Makashi and Hyperion suspected that Imperius hadn't confronted too many instances of the style in his life before. So he switched to the second form, one of two forms he had mastered besides Juyo, in the hope of disarming him. Sure enough, he was able to land a slicing blow across the elder Sith Lord's thigh and with Makashi and a jab to his right shoulder, causing his arm to spasm uncontrollably. Then, at the last possible moment, Hyperion used the Sight to detect a surge of energy strong enough to mean only a storm of Force Lightning that he knew he couldn't barricade against.

So, despite Crassus' protestations to the contrary, Hyperion dodged and used the momentum of his sidestep to run across a nearby window. Getting in close while the lightning soared harmlessly past him, and destroyed the terminals in the room along with stunning the surviving Lords, then Hyperion prepared Crassus, signalling him to emerge with the power through what would normally be a Pushing Slash of Niman. The spirit of Crassus immediately readied itself, letting Hyperion pull off the speed to succeed in applying the slash then extending his hand out while Imperius' blade was still swatted to the side. Rather than channeling air currents into a push that would throw Imperius across the room, the air currents that were called upon instead bolstered Crassus' departure from Hyperion's body and into that of the Pau'an. "What are you...?" Imperius began before the soul shot into him with such velocity that it interrupted his words, pulling his consciousness toward oblivion while attempting to supplant his own in place of Imperius'.

Imperius was stunned except to drop his lightsaber and clutch his head, shaking with what normally would have been seizures in those not attuned to the Force. All the Lords and Dark Lords who had been fighting each other suddenly stopped, apprising the situation before them. Hyperion had cast out an ancient Dark Side soul from himself and let it attempt to possess a member of the Dark Council whose power was already marked by a couple rivals. Meanwhile, Hyperion deactivated both blades but kept them the hilts in his hands, standing in a ready position in case Crassus failed. The way he saw it, Crassus would either succeed and become mortal again or he would be dissipated in a manner that weakened Imperius enough for Hyperion to finish him off and end this debacle forever.

When the Dark Councilor's eyes finally fluttered back open and he gasped a massive gulp of air, Hyperion was at the ready to strike him down either way. "Not since I was alive last have I felt this much power," the Pau'an said, confirming what the Force compelled Hyperion to suspect. Crassus had officially managed to take over Imperius' body, obliterating his consciousness and becoming more powerful than he'd ever been before. Hyperion moved in but he was quickly Force-pulled away from the Pau'an before Crassus could even chance being struck down by his grandson.

"I have won my Kaggath but Lady Minshuto has lost hers. In light of his victory and the effort he has put into stopping me, I will seek a truce with the Emperor's Wrath. I will pursue no further violence against you if you will forgive my travesties against the Emperor's sons. In this darker age for the Empire, we must know when to let go of petty grievances and band together against the Jedi. Zavakon's forces, in alliance with the Wrath, have persuaded me as much... have they persuaded you, Wrath?" said Crassus through his new mouthpiece. Hyperion stated that he did accept the terms of the truce and did agree that he should not pursue vengeance for Emperor Verrin's sons for they had been too weak to save themselves even with his training.

Over the comm channels, they heard cheers that resounded across several cruisers, starfighters, and other spacecraft. With the war officially over, the Dark Council knew that another time would come when the Emperor could be chosen. For now, however, there was one central leader and two outside officials who could run things until a being that was clearly more powerful than the rest could ascend to the position. "What are you doing?" Hyperion asked, shortly after the comm channels had died.

"You wanted me to declare any fighting with you over once I took this body over and that is exactly what I have done. Granted, the only difference is that the brothers are already dead and Imperius' forces have already been destroyed, enough to where further fighting would be futile. If Imperius was persuaded to exercise a call to a truce before he lost anymore strength, it would look like he finally recognized that he must benefit the Empire even if it meant putting his more intimate ambitions on hold for a time. Or have you forgotten that that is sometimes how the Dark Side must operate?" Crassus replied. _What... what the hell have I done?_ Hyperion thought glumly.

The next chance Hyperion acquired, he stepped into a private communications channel not associated with the Sith and commed Dantius' frequency. Someone else beside himself had to know what happened, someone who did not immediately stand to lose everything from Crassus' return. Hell, someone who (like him) might have even felt Crassus' resurrection ripple across the waters of time and space like a rock thrown into a still puddle. Sure enough, when he commed Dantius in the usual channels on Balmorra, his face suggested that he had sensed the old darkness returning from beyond to seek vengeance. Without wasting any time, Hyperion said to his brother, "I'm sorry Dantius... he is returned."

All Dantius said in reply was exactly what Hyperion expected, "Our worst fear is now realized. Flesh has been given once more to a man who doesn't know when to die already."


	27. Chapter Twenty-Seven

**Chapter Twenty-Seven**

When Hyperion called, Dantius was recovering from what felt like a wrenching of his stomach, usually an indication that someone from his past had reemerged. But there was something different about this instance of the sensation, something that indicated it should never have happened yet it somehow did. So when Hyperion confirmed his worst fears, that Crassus had taken the body of a powerful Sith Lord no less, he knew exactly why it felt that way. "Our worst fear is now realized. Flesh has been given once more to a man who doesn't know when to die already," was all he could when he had breath.

"But our cousin proved that he isn't invincible! He's been killed once before and he's only ever survived to that point in time because there was a weak-willed host in his proximity for the ceremony of essence transfer. If we could somehow trick him into doing as our cousin had tricked him to doing before, we may yet defeat him. He's no longer inside my head so I can cook up a plan of attack that may stop him," Hyperion explained, chattering on like a monkey with hopeful talk. But Dantius shook his head and raised a hand to stop his brother before he continued onward.

"No, the time inside your head will only allow him to anticipate any plan you make. Any plan we Jedi make on the other hand? We in the Republic still have the element of surprise on him where you don't. How do Sith forces look now that the Kaggaths are over?" Dantius replied glumly.

"If you get the move on now, they'll have no time to make a recovery. This is the best chance the Jedi are ever going to have if they want to make a move on destroying the Sith. Any operations you got planned, do it now: their attempt to seize Mandalore has been botched by infighting and it'll be years before they have a sizable enough force to try again. Gotta go now, Crassus knows of our communications and if I'm gone too long, he may decide to report me for treason," Hyperion said. He may already have done that when you ducked out, should it suit his plans to do so Dantius thought though he nodded and wished his brother the best.

Fortunately, it didn't take long to garner approval from the Chancellor as well as a Republic pardon, forgiving him for any war crimes he may be forced to commit. Of course, there was just one more person he wished to join him, one perfectly suited for the aquatic stage of the attack he planned for Dathomir. "Inoy, good to see you. At the approval of the Council, I invite you to join the Sentience on a mission to destroy the Sith, once and for all," Dantius said, comming his younger friend.

"I accept your invitation and humbly thank you, I have heard of the Sentience but have never known how to join. What can I do for you?" Inoy said when he arrived to the war council chambers on Dantooine.

"According to intel gathered by my double agent in the Sith Empire, the perfect time to strike the champions of darkness is upon us now. We'll start with an attack on Dathomir, a world known to empower the Force-sensitives of the Imperial ranks in the early stages of their training. I've planned and coordinated a three-pronged attack that needs each prong to be executed successfully and decisively. The first is a space attack and not to worry, Commander Jace Malcom will see to that one himself at the Chancellor's behest. What I need you for is the second prong: an amphibious crossing to be undertaken to the Sith temple from one of the great lakes on Dathomir; I'll supply your comm with the coordinates of the temple and the launch point," Dantius explained. He typed in the coordinates and when Inoy's comm blinked a green light, he nodded to Dantius in assurance that he had acquired them.

"With due respect sir, why are we attacking lake side? Wouldn't be easier to march across the plains?" Inoy inquired.

"You'd think so but the security systems the temple has on the front side makes it impossible for us to get close enough for such an attack to be successful. If we hit them from the lake on the other hand, that's an entire flank of the temple left vulnerable to penetration by concentrated firepower," Dantius explained. Inoy's eyes scanned the portion of the planet he was supposed to cover, including the landing coordinates, the launch point, and the size of the lake. Then he noticed a potential discrepancy he couldn't help but point out to the senior human about the plan.

"The lake looks too big for oxygen tanks to last, my troops would be gasping for breath long before we arrived. Particularly if we're supposed to walk along the lake as I suspect may be the case," said the Nautolan.

"I was wondering if you'd notice that," Dantius admitted with a smile, "fortunately, we got even that covered. The battalion you'll be going with won't have need for oxygen tanks: like you they'll be amphibians we've recruited into the Republic army. Finding enough troops of that nature wasn't easy so I recruited from among Nautolans, Selkath, Quarren, and Mon Cala. All four of those species, as you know, can survive virtually any amount of hydraulic pressure and live both on land and in the water. You're leading the first ever battalion of strictly amphibious species into Sith territory, striking them almost from behind and bringing down their forces. Meanwhile, Ashlynn will coordinate the land attack designed to distract their remaining forces long enough for you to ambush them without any risk of detection."

"And when we've taken Dathomir, what's our approach for Balmorra?" asked Inoy.

"Your new battalion will be joined by mine on the surface while Ashlynn and Jace lead the space forces. She and I are taking turns helping out in space or on land and we agreed I would be better suited to the space front during the Dathomir attack. I'll brief you on the details of the Balmorra attack once we've successfully taken Dathomir for the Republic. Get some rest and ready yourself, it'll still be about three or four standard weeks before the full force is up to speed for this task," Dantius answered.

"May the Force bless this attack with success," Inoy said, bowing before his departure from the briefing room. Dantius returned the salutation but in truth, he wasn't sure if it would succeed. With Crassus back, it was entirely possible that even if they won the battles, they wouldn't eradicate the Sith. He wouldn't be certain until he saw the old windbag fall himself.


	28. Chapter Twenty-Eight

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

For the first little while following his resurrection, Crassus couldn't help but look over his new body. "Impressive stature and his skills with a lightsaber are without parallel to what I was able to do. Hm, it seems like you have nearly doubled my Force potential in giving me this body, Hyperion. I am truly gratified to be alive again, thanks to you," he said at one point.

"The Pau'an species are known for exceptionally long lives, unparalleled by virtually any species. Provided you take good care of yourself, you have another six and a half centuries of life before you need to worry about finding another host body," Hyperion replied. That fact had surprised Crassus and the old man seemed to think he would be needing at least one more Pau'an body, closer to when he would need a host again.

"With such lifespans as that, I can expect to outlive Lords Andeddu and Vitiate with even one more host. The former will already be outlived when this body's life is done with a fresh one allowing me to outlive the great Darth Vitiate. Hm, makes one think about what to do with virtual immortality," Crassus said.

"To be explored when we are no longer at risk of being destroyed by the Jedi, perhaps. For now, we need to think about how we're going to suppress the dissident voices sure to be coming from the Dark Council and perhaps Lord Jadus. As the Emperor's Voice, Jadus is entitled to the same legitimacy to the throne in the absence of a strong heir that I am," Hyperion told him.

"If Jadus is even half as cunning as I suspect, our first task will be cutting his support down to size and ensuring that he either does not lay claim to the title or hold it for long if he has staked his claim. Should he be even more cunning than I anticipated of him, he will have already made his bid during the infighting, being the only one who has yet to dispense his forces for war. This would be the perfect time and when the warring is over, he'd be the only strong figure likely to emerge even if the Council combined its military might and Force powers together," Crassus replied.

"What makes you so certain that Jadus will have laid claim to the throne by now?" Hyperion asked.

"Every monarchy of dictatorial nature is dependent for its continuity on a strong line of heirs. In the absence of that, the system begins to expose its weaknesses through the vying and warring of the head monarch's subordinates for the power once wielded by the monarch themselves. Those who are both smart and patient will wait out the conflict, taking no active part until they are sure they could win with the most minimal bloodshed possible if they fought. Jadus, if what I suspect is true of him, should turn out to be one such person by the time we return to Balmorra," Crassus answered.

"I'm not even sure I want to know where you learned that from," Hyperion admitted.

"When I was Crown Prince, I used that to tear the resistance of enemy clans apart. While they were divided and weak, their royals challenging each other for power, I swept through to unify the peoples of Algethiius into what'd become the Empire you were born to. And all because I patiently waited to deploy assassins at the right times, maximizing the damage done before I even expended a single soldier," Crassus explained.

"I was wrong, I didn't want to know that," Hyperion retorted.

"Yet now you do. No matter, the more humanoid species of this galaxy are a divisive lot by nature. The only unifications expected to last more than a couple centuries can be found among the hive-minded species like the Killiks or the Calicoids. But even they have one fundamental weakness: kill the birthing unit of such insectoids and you may the entire ecosystem collapse as the subordinates lose their sense of identity to the madness losing leadership. The only arguable benefit to living under the Republic is the false assurance that there is an intergalactic force that gives all species an equal opportunity to prosper and thrive, the capability of exercising an artificial power to elect and remove leaders an enticing illusion. Inherent in the Republic and governments like it is the weakness that its citizens must be thoroughly educated in their rights, their powers, and when they must exercise them lest they become complacent and weak in the face of tyranny," Crassus told him.

"Is that why you enslaved billions across the Unknown Regions?" Hyperion snarled.

"That is why I liberated the peoples I conquered from themselves. I saved them from the langor suffered by all prosperous democracies and republics, introducing a purpose to all those people whether they had needed one or not. In plain basic, I not only saved them from themselves but also brought them the kind of fulfillment a government that allowed for voting never could. For in democratic governments, tyrants rise like flowers in a garden through the idiocy of its people but in monarchies, rulers rise because they have the strongest will for unifying divided cultures," Crassus calmly explained.

"You killed thousands then masqueraded salvation to the survivors," Hyperion countered.

"A small price to pay for the salvation from starvation, stupidity, and purposelessness that my forces promised. Even you wanted for nothing when you were a child and now look at you, are you any freer for having lived your life without my influence? Or have the deeds of your life enchained you to worse masters than I ever was?" Crassus asked back. Hyperion didn't want to answer that one, knowing that he would either open his grandfather up to another one of his philosophical rants or (just as likely) allow him another chance to gaze deeper into his soul.

"Your silence is answer enough, child. Anyway, we are nearing Balmorra: I suggest you ready yourself for anything when we get there. If the Council is as decadent as we both suspect, there will be much more blood still left to shed before we can claim any real power," Crassus ordered. _Not that it'll matter when the Jedi find the planets held by the Sith and exterminate them. Or do you not know that, now that you're outside of my head for a change?_ Hyperion thought angrily as he marched away.

After the attack on Imperius' forces, Hyperion had ordered his men to remove the logo of Zavakon's soldiery before they jumped into hyperspace for Balmorra. Stopping halfway between Mandalore and Dathomir, they had cleaned off the filth of framing Zavakon then restored the logo of the Emperor's Wrath. Upon arriving to Dathomir, Crassus had called his grandson for a conference to discuss the plans of attack that they would take if and when they were forced to face the Dark Council. And now that Balmorra was approaching them in their scopes, the drop from hyperspace left them wondering what they would face when they arrived. Was Crassus right that the Council would be fighting amongst themselves when they returned, their ships restored to mint condition and the men of Hyperion's battalions both rested and healed?

Jumping out of hyperspace on the edge of Balmorran space, they saw the wreckages of several ships, none of which bore the crest of Lord Jadus. Hyperion then concluded that Crassus had been right and that Jadus had bided his time until he felt confident to secure his claim to the throne. Most likely, Jadus had believed that Imperius and Hyperion's forces would be too weak to mount a successful attack against him alone and had left just enough forces to secure an interest on Dathomir without weakening his hold on Balmorra. The ships belonging to Ravage, Nox, Zavakon, and even Vowrawn could be found among the ruins. Hyperion even observed the charred body of Ravage out the window though he instinctively knew the older Dark Councilor was dead.

From what scouts gathered, Zavakon and Vowrawn had suffered the same fate, the latter's death inciting a slight pang to Hyperion's heart. The Pureblood had been the first to vouch for Hyperion's induction to the Sith and now Hyperion couldn't count on his support anymore. Naturally, there was only one thing left to do now that Minshuto, Imperius, Ravage, Zavakon, and Vowrawn were dead. Find out if Nox and any other Dark Councilors still lived then launch an assault against Jadus' forces, provided they were given that chance. Scouts were able to land past the defenses that the Emperor's Voice had set up in space to find out if Nox was still alive.

Fortunately, she was but beyond her power, she couldn't offer anything in the way of help. Hyperion ordered his scouts to work on a way that she could be recovered and allowed to lead one of the charges toward Jadus. However, Crassus decided she would be better used in preventing any reinforcements that the Voice of the Emperor might call upon to help him survive. Meanwhile, Hyperion would lead the troops and Crassus would sweep through the destruction to fight and destroy Jadus, as the only one who even remotely had a chance against him.

"Jadus seems to favor quick strikes, much like wielding the lightsaber form Makashi in combat. A strong defense against such jabs of his forces could be used to ensnare a good chunk of his soldiers through a combination of the slingshot defense form and the pincer flanking maneuver along with a wedge formation toward the Palace steps. We'll also need to set up lines of war droids to flank the palace turrets along with our heaviest personal weaponry hitting the snipers," Crassus told them. Hyperion couldn't think of anything better so he and Nox went along with the strategy with the latter watching their space channels for reinforcements while the former led the land attack against Jadus.

He almost found himself hoping he'd perish on this mission, this way his betrayal wouldn't come too late to be used on him. He knew Crassus was just waiting for the perfect time.


	29. Chapter Twenty-Nine

**Chapter Twenty-Nine**

When Jadus' forces finally noticed the enemy on their tail, Hyperion was halfway from the landing point Crassus chose to the Palace. They were valiant put up the best fight that Hyperion had seen yet, the Imperial Guard trained to deal with Imperial soldiers and Dark Lords alike. But they were ultimately no match during the first waves, the most likely reason for that being that Jadus hoped to make Hyperion and his forces exert themselves prematurely. However, they obeyed Crassus' orders to sustain the pace they possessed regardless of what was thrown at them until they had the Palace in their sights. The patience of the effort paid off when they finally arrived at the Palace and found that Jadus had barely managed to put together a respectable force upon their arrival.

Hyperion used his shield to minimize the Force power he expended towards surviving the brunt of Jadus' assault as did many of his soldiers. The Dark Lords who joined him in the assault even took a page from Darth Imperius and had cortosis shields they could use in a phalanx. Thus, Hyperion gathered them to the front lines and had them raise shields to protect the front lines from the uphail of lasers. Some of them even kept the shields when fighting the Imperial guard so as to give them an edge in combat against the best of the best. It was the fight of a lifetime, even for Hyperion who had been in more fights and battles than many of the Dark Lords at his side.

Still, he appreciated their steadfast loyalty to the cause that he and Crassus shared even if he knew they had lost either way. Once the Jedi launched their attack against them, it wouldn't matter what strides had been made to secure the unification of the Sith. Their efforts would be for naught and the Jedi would see to it that not one of them had a chance to conquer the galaxy again.

All Hyperion was going to get out of this was the expungement of his record in Republic Space as well as financial compensation to set him up for most of his life's remainder. It didn't seem like enough of a price to be offered him for what he was helping them do, not nearly the kind of healing price that could be paid for his peace of mind about this. At the end of the day, whether he preferred the corruptions and failings of the Republic, he was still killing innocents who simply knew no better than to serve the Sith cause. As he approached the steps, however, he sensed something unnatural occur that he knew the Dark Lords had at least somewhat sensed too. Like the life force of someone powerful had been stripped from them and used to feed a more powerful being with the strength to prevail in anything they set their mind to.

He shook it off as best he could and continued to press the assault, breaching the Imperial Palace where Jadus had barricaded himself within. Bringing down the front gates meant that Jadus' claim to the throne could now be questioned and the Imperial Guard would not be coming to save him anymore, not until he repelled the challengers himself. This made the work of the Lords under Hyperion easier and made Hyperion's job even easier than that in general, even with the uneasy feeling he'd had distracting him somewhat. Their way through the ranks of those who remained steadfast in their loyalty to Jadus became even easier than the work they'd had when the Guards were aiding the man who claimed the throne. Not since Malgus had they had reason to question the one they called Master even if they had failed to save Verrin from the Devils of Mustafar and were rumored to have aided the demise of Cideon among other feats.

"Lord Imperius," Hyperion began, choosing to call his grandfather by his host's name, "we have breached the Palace and await your arrival. Jadus is soon to be trapped with no way to escape, making him easy pickings for you."

"Very good," Crassus said, "I will have a shuttle readied to a flight down there at once." The sound of his voice was even more confident than it had previously been, almost in connection to the uneasy feeling that Hyperion had had before. He hadn't even needed his lightsabers yet by the time he reached the chambers of the man who proclaimed himself Emperor, at which point he'd also sensed Crassus on the verge of landing. _He has come awfully fast, even for the pace needed to make this battle a success. Is it somehow connected to whatever I sensed earlier?_ Hyperion asked himself carefully.

They began bringing down the doors to the chambers when Crassus reported that he had landed and was on his way to face Jadus in fair combat. Hyperion, compelled forward by his obligation to the Empire, ordered his men to use all the remaining thermal detonators to create a big enough hole for troops to filter in. When they exploded, Hyperion was the first to step through the smoke, using Force Sight to search his way through until it cleared. After the others filed in, Jadus was awaiting them in the Emperor's chambers but there was no aura of anger, hatred, or any kind of emotion coming off him. It was almost as if he had anticipated this confrontation and had been preparing to fight the Emperor's Wrath for the right to rule the Sith. It would've been an impressive display of cunning if not for the fact that Hyperion wasn't going to challenge him.

"I must say I admire your form. You have outsmarted my soldiers at every turn, best my Dark Lords, and even intimidated the Imperial Guards out of helping me. Have you come to end my life as well?" Jadus asked.

"Your life will end," Hyperion admitted, "but not by my hands. I know I'm not powerful enough or skilled enough to defeat you but I know someone is. You remember Darth Imperius?" Then the man possessing Imperius' body entered the room, preparing for the fight that would end the feuding of the Sith. Jadus scanned his opponent over, sizing him for what was destined to become a fight for his life.

"No... this one carries Imperius' form but not his aura. This one is older, more powerful, and more conniving. Whoever you be, you are not the Lord Imperius that I knew!" Jadus snarled.

"You're very clever to have figured out that I am a Dark Side spirit who transferred his essence to Imperius then drained the Force power and life essence of Lady Nox. I could use such a brain as yours when I take over the Empire. Surrender, be my Voice," offered the Pau'an.

"And throw aside all the effort, years, and energy I have poured into this opportunity? Never!" Jadus exclaimed, finally succumbing to his pride in igniting his crimson lightsaber.


	30. Chapter Thirty

**Chapter Thirty**

When Jadus and Crassus ignited their blades, Hyperion thought over what Crassus had said about draining Nox's life and Force powers. Now, the sensation he felt before reaching the chambers made sense as did the feeling that Crassus' total Force power had grown exponentially. Crassus had never intended to let Nox lead any attempt to stop reinforcements that would never arrive in time to help Jadus. He merely wanted privacy as he fed on her life essence and broke her soul of any real power before vaporizing her body and casting her consciousness to oblivion. Crassus had done, on an individual scale, what was said to have been performed by Darths Nihilus and Vitiate.

This meant that he had combined the potential of two Dark Council members with the aura he had managed to gather over a century and half of life to make himself even stronger. How much more powerful, Hyperion wondered, could this man expect to get if he was allowed to live out the life of his Pau'an body and acquired another one at the right time? And how much longer did Crassus expect to live before he was ready to permanently embrace death? How much longer before he was satisfied enough to say that he was ready to die and ascend to the netherworld of the Force? Regardless, he watched as two masters of the Dark Side fought a ruthless battle for domination of the entire Sith Order, or what remained of it, anyway.

Jadus seemed to be a master of five of the seven lightsaber forms with Shii-Cho and Djem So being the only exception. Shien couldn't be readily displayed due to the fact it usually concerned itself with blaster bolts rather than lightsaber combat. Thus, that left Niman, Juyo, Ataru, Makashi, and Soresu as far as the traditional forms went. He also seemed to favor using the teleportation spell to offset Crassus' guards whenever he could. But Crassus was also a master of the forms and had likely experienced teleporters once or twice in his life before.

It showed when Jadus was unable to continue using teleportation to trick Crassus, who had not been tricked more than twice or thrice during the duel in any case. More to the point, Crassus was usually ready with a Soresu stance at each teleportation. This meant that Jadus would be forced to change tactics and both were beginning to realize they were close in skill with a lightsaber. So they began incorporating more Force powers into their blow, their Niman training permitting bouts of random Force Lighting being dispersed by either of them. Jadus also attempted to perform Dun möch on his opponent by throwing objects in the room at him but Crassus was clever.

He either countered by raising an object near him to meet the projectile coming at him, threw his own projectile to counter what Jadus hurled, or used the Force to send it back at him. It was becoming evident that Crassus was every bit as powerful as Jadus was, if not better than him. "You are skilled with a blade, strong in the Force, and slithery in speech. I could use someone like you in uniting the Sith to my cause if you would but surrender now. You needn't worry about losing everything you've worked for and you may even have another chance at it someday, Force willing," Crassus told him.

But Jadus ignored him and kept the fighting up, not giving into the temptation of what Crassus was offering him. He was, admitting there could be a time when Jadus would prove the stronger if he but surrendered now and the man had refused to take it. It was in moments like this that Hyperion reminded himself that patience was unusual amongst the Sith. Captivated by the physical realm and its limited bounties, the Sith were not known for waiting unless they knew they had time to spend. Vitiate might never have been a cautious man if he hadn't discovered the ritual that allowed him to consume Nathema after Marka Ragnos' verdict that he wait out the then-upcoming conflicts between Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh.

The Sith were cunning beyond measure but without a semi-immortal leader to guide them otherwise, they would be impulsive, quick to temper, and easily swayed to their emotions. They would always think of themselves and grow egotistical in their pursuit of their desires as was the nature of the Dark Side. Jadus, a product of the Dark Side was proving that his comparatively limited lifespan was a handicap that stunted any real claim to being a patient man. Especially true this was when one compared him to Crassus, much less Vitiate and that was why Hyperion knew he was going to fail or be so severely weakened in winning Hyperion could easily kill him.

But Hyperion knew that the latter outcome was unlikely to occur, not unless Crassus somehow grew too prideful of imminent victory to keep his head on straight. Knowing his grandfather, that mistake was unlikely to occur and Jadus sealed the deal when he tried a bout of his most powerful Force Lightning application, followed by another teleportation. Crassus absorbed it all with ease, taking its power within himself and amplifying five-fold from what Hyperion could sense with the aid of Force Sight. Then when Jadus meant to charge him head on, having shot his Lightning from his right flank before teleportation, Crassus released it back. The result was a storming volley of electricity so bright and blinding that Hyperion was forced to turn away.

In one hand, Crassus had not only produced the kind of storm associated with Vitiate in his Zakuulan form known as Valkorion but produced red lightning to that degree. Jadus was dead before he could roll to the ground and slump to his back, his armor and mask melted and fused to his body from the searing heat of the bolts ripping through his pitiful defenses. The entire duel had taken less than three minutes to come to its brutal end and when it was over, the entirety of the Sith Empire that remained found itself bowing before the man they called Imperius. Even Hyperion, who would be subordinate as the Emperor's Wrath, bowed before his grandfather until the man called him to his side.

"Darth Jadus has refused to let go of what meager fruits came of his successes as a Sith Lord. He has disgraced himself in surrendering to his ego and has dishonored the Dark Side in a manner that could only be amended by his death. Now, the Sith are again unified but we are too weak to sustain our holdings on Balmorra or Dathomir. Recover for a day then we will begin to prepare for the departure of our remnants into a place where the Jedi will not reach us until we are ready! Dismissed all," Crassus declared, asking Hyperion to stay with him for a bit. When everyone was gone, he spoke his mind with his grandson about what was to come.

"Be fortunate that I have not spoken of your original purpose in coming here to them. If they were to discover you were a mole of the Jedi who ascended the ladder of power too fast for his own good, they would skin you and hang your bones to dry before you could think. However, there is still a possibility of pardon from your original intention: swear utter fealty to me and the Sith cause and I will let you live to share in the glory to come," Crassus told him.

"I can counter with how you were once killed by a half-trained Sith warrior and his band of Jedi outcasts in the Hapes Cluster. The Sith may not like their members to be caught with treachery but they abhor weakness of any sort. If you want me to step into the light and fess up, we're stepping into that light together, grandfather. Think you can live with those consequences?" Hyperion replied.

"I could simply destroy you now then release the information I have on you since it comes straight from your head and unto their data screens. They will know of how you trained Verrin's sons to fail so that your mission for the Republic would be a success and deliberately allowed the engines of war to tear the Empire apart to minimize damage to the Jedi fleets! Is that your wish, grandson?" Crassus demanded. Hyperion merely looked his grandfather in the eye as he slowly backed away from him.

"You do what you think you have to do, Crassus. It's all any of us can do even when the decisions hurt us like the burns of a lightsaber cut," Hyperion told him. He continued to retreat away from Crassus and even turned his back to him to march out to help with the preparations for the retreat. Crassus called out to him in his new Pau'an voice, repeating his commands until Hyperion finally stopped. When the younger and smaller human turned to face his senior lord once again, Crassus spoke out with a booming voice.

"You could've been the greatest of the Sith at one time, Hyperion Corialanus Algethii. In your life, you have displayed brutality, treachery, guile, cunning, skill, ambition, and power capable of making greatness from conquest. Yet you have langored in a squalor borne from the guilt of what you rightly claimed for yourself, you let yourself be haunted by the effect your actions had on others rather than embracing that you had that effect on those people! You were so much more than what you are now when you were young and now you have thrown it all away," Crassus told him.

"If power and prestige can only come by stepping on the backs of other people, I want none of it. I want known of the gifts the Dark Side can offer me, no more than I already possess," Hyperion replied calmly.

"Precisely your sin was that you always lacked ambition that others did not encourage. I can deal with ambitious men, they can be persuaded and bought but a man who only wants to live and let live is no use to me," Crassus said.

"And precisely your weakness is that you are a one-hundred and fifty year old child, unable to realize that death will ensnare him sooner or later. Unable to believe it possible that death can someday come for him. When the Jedi arrive, Dantius and I will be fighting side by side to make sure you die and _stay_ dead this time," Hyperion hissed before marching off to keep himself busy with the others.


	31. Chapter Thirty-One

**Chapter Thirty-One**

While Crassus was wrenching the reins of power from happenstance and chaos, Dantius had called an assembly of everyone joining him to destroy the Sith. "Thank you for joining me on this fateful expedition. Before we begin, I'd like to inform you all that the reason this is even possible is because of a double agent we have amongst the Sith ranks who found himself wanting absolution from the atrocities he performed against the Republic. One who has experience with the Dark Side and is therefore far less susceptible to its whims than we all are with our formal Jedi training," Dantius said, letting a pause occur to have his words sink in. Inoy already knew who he was talking about but the Nautolan asked the name of this double agent be revealed for those who didn't know.

"Thank you Knight Llimetch, this double agent is my one-time enemy and older brother, Hyperion Algethii. In youth, he tried to destroy me and everyone associated but his redemption began when he and Inoy collaborated to survive in the depths of Nar Shaddaa. Though he is by no means capable of becoming a Jedi, and lacks the desire in any case, he agreed to act as our double agent amongst the Sith in return for total expungement of his Republic crimes. Now, he has informed me that the Sith have rung their requiem knell, fighting among themselves for power again since the death of Emperor Verrin. Unfortunately, time is still of the essence because an even older and more twisted soul has been again given life through reasons of necessity: for those who know my family background, my grandfather has returned from death," Dantius continued.

"How is that possible?" Ashlynn asked then after a moment, she added, "You told me he died when he failed to perform essence transfer on your cousin."

"I thought he was too, I'll no deny it. But Crassus laid a seedling of his power in myself and Hyperion, years before even arriving to the galaxy. Calling upon it, when he was defeated by my cousin, he temporarily bound himself into Hyperion only to be released upon the soul of a Pau'an Sith Lord named Darth Imperius and now he is more powerful than he's ever been. Perhaps more powerful than even Emperor Verrin had been during the fall of Dromund Kaas," Dantius told them.

"Then let's not waste a moment and go on the attack," declared Jace Malcom.

"I've already outlined the Dathomir strategy and will brief everyone here on it once again. Jace, you and I will take our space forces and lead the attack against Dathomir's atmospheric defenses and break a wide enough hole in their fortifications for Inoy to slip past in unmarked cargo ships. Once he lands at these coordinates, he will take the amphibian force we've assembled for him and cross the lake to flank the Sith temple on the other side. Meanwhile, Ashlynn will lead a distracting land force that will focus the bulk of Sith security upon them as if they were the true threat. When Inoy has attacked, Ashlynn will press her forces through the front door with confirmation of success sent when the temple is taken," Dantius said.

"And Balmorra?" Jace asked.

"Inoy and I will storm that planet on land while you and Ashlynn supervise the space forces. I will also need you to make sure that any reinforcements that come to their aid are shot down as well. When we have stormed Dathomir, I should have a more complete assessment of the Balmorran situation in case we need to change up the plan a tad. If there are no more questions, let's-," Dantius continued, interrupted by an emergency transmission from Hyperion.

Looking around to the other members of his attack force, he let them know who it was and asked if he should take it. When the three of them nodded, Dantius answered to see a hologram of Hyperion looking exasperated though relieved when he saw Dantius on his end. "Oh dear brother, what a relief it is to see you again!" Hyperion began.

"You look like it's a relief, for sure. What can I do for you, you broadcast on an emergency code?" Dantius asked. Hyperion nodded and let himself breathe for a little bit before speaking but sadly, the news he brought once he could wasn't good.

"I think... I think I've discovered what our grandfather means to do if he can. So if you got that attack force ready that you told me about, you'd better get it on the move and fast! Grandpa thinks he's found his host body capable of performing Drain Life on any scale Crassus needs it to and intends to replicate the ceremony that empowered Lord Vitiate at Nathema and Ziost. This way, he doesn't have to worry about death ever again," Hyperion told his brother. Jace, Inoy, and Ashlynn were galvanized at the news while Dantius took it in stride as best he could with recitation of the Jedi Code's first line to help him as best as possible.

"Do you have an idea of the world he intends to consume for the ceremony or even a reason to think this could be so?" Dantius inquired. Hyperion looked like there was no time for questions but decided his best recourse was to answer Dantius' inquiry anyway. If for no other reason than to give hope to the others in the room with him, should he have sensed Ashlynn, Inoy, and Jace.

"He absorbed the life essence and Force power of a Dark Council member named Darth Nox and used the combined strength of her, the Council member Darth Imperius whose body he took over, and the potential he brought to the table as a disembodied soul. If my suspicions are correct, he means to do it somewhere that is heavily populated and he has artifacts capable of enhancing his willpower so that he can say for certain that he is up to the task. But the fact he can die now means we must act and act quickly in order to stop him from completing the ceremony while there's still time," Hyperion explained.

"The first expeditionary force to attack Dathomir will be setting out within the day. We have a whole other fleet following on its tail to fly into Balmorra and conquer it while there's still time. If you can find out where Crassus intends to perform the ritual, we'll combine both expeditions to stop him there. In case we can't, stay close to him and make sure that when he starts the trance to wait for the right moment and disrupt his concentration. Once deeply entranced in the ceremony, you only need him unfocused for one second to destroy him," Dantius said.

"I will do that. May the Force be with you," said Hyperion, then he cut the comm transmission.


	32. Chapter Thirty-Two

**Chapter Thirty-Two**

Hyperion was fortunate he was able to contact Dantius when he did. Because Crassus' fortifications over Balmorra and Dathomir were not yet complete. The fact that Dantius would be striking the latter within the day was comforting news to the older Force-sensitive but he still needed to know what world Crassus intended to consume. He knew it was going to be heavily populated, it'd have to be for the ceremony of consumption to be worthwhile for him. Vitiate had had to feed on populated worlds twice in order to carry himself on for another few centuries, even if the Outlander had defeated him before he could benefit from those centuries.

And since Crassus was already a hundred and fifty years old, a successful performance of the ritual would allow him to surpass even Vitiate in age. Hell, even transferring his consciousness into another Utapaun body (when Imperius expired) would allow him to do that. But he seemed content to desire immortality of one body as Vitiate's ceremony would surely make him. Off the top of his head, he could only think of a handful of planets Crassus could use, most of which were too deep in Republic Space for the limited Sith resources available. There were Sith worlds that were rich in the energy of the Dark Side like the fairly recovered Malachor V, Dromund Kaas, Korriban, and Yavin 4 but those worlds were indispensable to the Sith cause.

There were worlds in Hutt Space, like Nal Hutta and Nar Shaddaa that could be used if Crassus wanted to break the power of the Hutt cartel. However, Crassus didn't strike Hyperion as having the wisdom to see the ethical dilemma he could create amongst the Jedi if he did that. If he moved on Nal Hutta, the ritual would allow him to break the power of the Hutt cartel in the galaxy but the Jedi would also be obligated to save lives when and where they could. Doubtless, the Dantius' network would most likely have to evacuate civilians from the site even as the Hutts were unsuspecting.

This left only one true choice, worlds that fell within Imperial Space that had been lost during the war against the Republic. That or else a world that had been Neutral during the war, even from Hutt Space. This narrowed his search for potential candidates until he realized there was only one that met all the criteria of Dark Side energy, heavy populace, and a system the Jedi would not expect. In the later stages of the war, the Sith world of Nogatan had been abandoned by the Sith in favor of Balmorra and Dathomir, with Dromund Kaas and Korriban falling thereafter. From what Hyperion had read, Nogatan was abandoned because of a virus that had swept through the Imperial world, forcing it on lockdown.

In light of the time that had passed since, there was no reason to believe the virus still lived with the hosts most likely dead and decomposed by now. However, that wasn't what would draw Crassus to that world as much as the cache of powerful Dark Side artifacts that had been left behind there. He could start by consuming them before then consuming the remaining life energies of the planet as well as its connection to the Force, specifically the Dark Side of the Force. More to the point, the population would have time enough to recover before the consumption could begin and that included the wildlife population which would've been first to recover. But now that he knew that Nogatan was the site of Crassus' choice for the consumption of a world, he needed a way that he could let Dantius know.

That was when he realized two things, one of which was that his comm had a frequency that was almost impossible to hack. Aside from how long the code lasted before it could no longer be traced, it was also the kind of coding that was used by high ranking officials of the Republic government. More, the Sith lacked the kind of engineering personnel that once made them the formidable fighting force that nearly lay waste to the Republic. So he typed in a single word that he sent to Dantius' frequency, seeing no one at the communications station at the moment. He commed the word Nogatan to the frequency associated with Dantius and one more note, "Crassus is hungry for a Dark Side world".

Then he decided to deactivate the comlink, this way the trace was even more difficult for either Republic or Imperial decryptors. _And may the Force forgive me the lives that will undoubtedly be lost before the Sith are stopped_ Hyperion thought to himself silently. It was this thought, this remorse, that made him begin to wonder. Was it right to exterminate the Sith so thoroughly, to aid the Jedi in the purge of a sect of Force users that disagreed with them? Had it been right for the members of the Jedi Council of Arden Lyn and Xendor's day to banish them for their desire to study and understand Bogan for the benefit of the Order?

Was it right that those who followed were hunted down like mad dogs across the galaxy? Had it been right for the Dark Jedi who fought the Hundred Year Darkness to be exiled and left for dead on Korriban simply because they chose a different path from the rest? And what of Dantius' conspirators in that organization he had referred to as the Sentience? How was their existence not a walking hypocrisy of everything the Jedi said not to do when serving the Force? It was times like this when Hyperion wished he could still commune with his mother, even if just in her spirit form.

She would've known he was having this conflict and understood how best to solve it if she were alive now to help him. "If only I'd listened to my mother and let her reach me when she was alive. Damn you, grandfather!" Hyperion snarled under his breath. But knowing the silence he would get if he tried to reach out for his mother, he thought back to his other reason for doing this. Whatever he did from here on, he did so with the expectation that he was creating a safer galaxy for his adopted son, Menelaus.

Even as Hyperion was technically destroying his foster son's inheritance, now that his brothers were dead, the human recognized this as true. And when he had a moment of privacy, away from the eyes of the other Sith who joined him and his grandfather on the trip to Nogatan, he pulled out a datapad with a hologram of him with his son. It was back when Menelaus was still an infant and Hyperion was just beginning to soften up to having such a fragile charge in his care. Back then, Hyperion hadn't been appreciative of how much Menelaus would come to mean to him. Now, he'd give anything to hold Menelaus in his arms again, and hear about his day among the things they used to do when they lived in peace on the frozen world of Ando Prime.


	33. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

When Dantius received the coded transmission from Hyperion, it clicked at once for him. Of course Crassus would use a world that reeked of the Dark Side like Nogatan did for his performance of the ritual discovered by Vitiate. And of course, he would choose a world like Nogatan which was situated in one of the old holdings of the Empire. Nogatan, as far as Crassus would be concerned, had been one of the strategic weak links in the chain of the Sith especially once the Sith Lords who came from there had usurped the Empire in Vitiate's absence. Even the return of several prominent faces like Jadus, Ravage, and Mortis hadn't been enough to stop them until Lady Acina had allied with Lord Malgus to bring them down.

Now that Nogatan was a world in a system that was now Neutral Space, there was no reason to believe that the Republic would immediately give help. Unfortunately for Crassus, Dantius was not only ready with a force that would bring down both worlds currently controlled by the Sith but would also follow Crassus to Nogatan. "Prepare for lightspeed, we're in this to the end and we're making sure the Sith are wiped away forever!" he told the troops.

"May the Force be with our efforts," said Jace. Inoy and Ashlynn hung off to the side, nodding their agreement as they readied themselves for the mission too. Then they watched as the frontmost ships of the fleet jumped into lightspeed as their cruiser braced to follow them into the blue netherworld. As soon as they did, Dantius turned to enter the briefing room with his Jedi colleagues while Jace began coordinating the formations of their fleet.

"This will be a day long remembered, it has seen the Sith deplete themselves in their facade of unity, it will soon see them pay the price for their lack of vision. The Force is on our side, Dantius," Inoy said. Dantius nodded but Ashlynn wasn't content to leave things at that statement.

"Dantius, despite our commitment to the Order, I love you with all my heart still. And as someone who loves you, can we trust Hyperion after what he had done to try and destroy us?" Ashlynn asked. Once, in their youth, Hyperion had led an attack on her homeworld of Lorrd in an effort to destroy her family and kill her to ruin Dantius. It had culminated in Hyperion barely escaping with his life as well as being fitted the mechanical arm he would wield into his exile on Ando Prime, after holding Dantius and Coventry captive long enough for Forseti to rescue them. So when Ashlynn asked the most critical question he could expect someone he had loved for years in disobedience to the Jedi's rule of attachment.

"I don't suppose we can ever trust him in full, Ashlynn. But he is a tired, older man looking for absolution from the rambunctiousness of his fiery youth. As Jedi, we owe it to ourselves to give him the chance to attain forgiveness if he puts forth the effort to obtain it for himself and from us. So far, his leads haven't failed us and we now stand to achieve the one thing no Jedi has ever bragged about before. Does this satisfy your question?" Dantius said.

Ashlynn didn't waste any time in replying by saying that it did. "Then it is settled, the Sith threat ends now and forever with what we do today," Dantius told her and Inoy both.

 **A/N: Hey guys, thanks for your patience with this. I was hoping to have it finished early enough to say its completion would be my Christmas gift to you all but as is, I can't complain. It'll be a little while before I'm in a position to work on the third volume but I'll try to keep my hiatus no less than a month if I can. May the Force be with you guys, always!**


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